Independent Liberal Party (ILP) Leader Jack Warner failed to live up to his own hype when he took the platform at the presentation of his party’s 23 candidates for the September 7 general election on Sunday night.
Warner, who promised that he had a “mark to buss” on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar during his last public engagement before Sunday’s meeting, did not deliver the “goodies” as he addressed a modest gathering of his supporters at Lucky Dollar Supermarket carpark in Montrose, Chaguanas.
While his speech was full of criticism of Persad-Bissessar and her Government’s achievements in their five-year term, punctuated with unspecific allegations of corruption, Warner held back on his promise of a major expose on Persad-Bissessar.
An exclusive report in the Sunday Guardian, however, had revealed that the “mark” Warner was alluding to related to the Prime Minister’s personal life, including past “liaisons” during her stint as leader of the opposition and later while in office.
Warner is said to have compiled that information from recorded conversations with National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (Nidco) communications manager Ingrid Ishmael, a former close associate of Persad-Bissessar.
Even without exposing a new scandal, a common feature in many of his speeches during the campaign trail, the former government minister still had the crowd of 1,000-odd supporters fully engrossed in his fiery critique of Persad-Bissessar’s performance, as they jumped, cheered and waved their flags instinctively each time he paused to catch his breath.
Their screams appeared to be amplified every time he mentioned previous scandals he had exposed since he was forced to part ways with the United National Congress two years ago, after being fired as a government minister after he quit from Fifa over corruption allegations. Warner is currently fighting extradition to the United States where he is facing trial for 12 fraud and money laundering charges arising out of the Fifa scandal.
“Regardless what Kamla says, reasonable citizens will always believe Section 34 was for her two financiers. Yes, it is Kamla they want us now to vote for,” Warner said, as he repeatedly admitted that he made a mistake in supporting the Persad-Bissessar and the UNC in the last general election.
He called on his supporters to not let history repeat itself again this year.
“Unfortunately, the good values that we cherished then have now been swept under the carpet as greed, notoriety and nepotism have now taken root and is initiating the social decay that is tearing our society apart,” Warner said.
The former UNC chairman also took aim at his former party’s decision to market Persad-Bissessar as the “poster girl” of the People’s Partnership campaign.
“The maximum leader that Patrick Manning was is now the maximum leader that Kamla Persad-Bissessar has become, to the point where the people of the UNC no longer vote for a party in 2015, but instead vote for Kamla,” he said.
He said the UNC’s campaign strategy was based on the tainted reputations of the Government’s Cabinet ministers and public’s misguided positive perception of Persad-Bissessar.
He said in 2010 the PM could have been given “the benefit of the doubt because we did not know her, but in 2015 we have her first five years on record and all that poster girl Kamla and her Government did was line their pockets and those of their financiers, while the rest of the population ate less than crumbs which fell from the PP’s table.”
Warner encouraged his supporters to help the party get in office, as he claimed that it (ILP) had selected the best slate of candidates who could form a Government to improve T&T.
“The ILP way is to embark upon a path where everyone, regardless of who you are or where you are living, will get a fair share when the resources of our country are being distributed,” Warner said.
ILP CANDIDATES
ILP candidates
Chaguanas East - Jack Warner
Chaguanas West - Amarnath Jaggesar
Lopinot/Bon Air West - Nigel Reyes
Toco/Sangre Grande - Dayne Francois
Tobago West - Paul Peters
Tobago East - Porsher Powder
Diego Martin Central - Kathy-Ann Lamont
La Brea - Kefing Jason Chance
Caroni Central - Michelle Johnson
Mayaro - Andrew Brooks
San Fernando East - Ricardo Lee Sing
Couva North - Sunil Ramjitsingh
Laventille East/Morvant - Fitz-David Samuel
Moruga/Tableland - Andre Clifford
San Fernando West - Joseph Mendes
Arima - Donna Jennings
Dabadie/O’Meara - Dominic Romain
Point a Pierre - Katrina Mark- Bascombe
Laventille West - Trent Holdip
Cumuto Manzanilla - Dr Lena Brereton
St Ann’s East - Geewan Ramdeen
Fyzabad - Fabian Assie
Diego Martin West - Taja Apollonia Carrington