Accept your defeat with grace and move on. That was the advice given to Kamla Persad-Bissessar from the leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah after Monday’s election.
Abdulah also advised Persad-Bissessar to attempt to calm her supporters in the face of her general election defeat.
In a release yesterday, he said the former prime minister needed to try to calm her supporters and pave the way for the entire country to engage in the very challenging task of tackling the major problems which the country faced, such as an economic crisis, crime and the collapse of our institutions.
Abdulah reminded Persad-Bissessar and her executive colleagues in the UNC of their repeated phrase when they were in government for five years: “It’s time to move on.”
He added: “That phrase was first popularised by them in the aftermath of the so-called “mis-step” of the appointment of Reshmi Ramnarine to the position of director of the SSA, a position that she was not qualified to hold.
“In the face of widespread criticism concerning that appointment and the fact that the Parliament was misled by government ministers with respect to her qualifications, Mrs Persad-Bissessar, Dr Moonilal and other high-ranking UNC members told the Opposition, other critics and the country to “move on”.
“To Mrs Persad-Bissessar we say time to move on. Accept your defeat with some grace, for the country’s sake. He said there were already a few UNC supporters who had not accepted the outcome of the democratic process and had been posting wild rants on social media, some of which were seeking to incite racial strife.
“Their position would have been informed by the vituperative campaign conducted by the UNC in its attempt to denigrate and demonise Dr Rowley.
“This was not helped by the fact that Mrs Persad-Bissessar did not offer congratulations to Dr Rowley on election night,”Abdulah said. He said Persad-Bissessar had a responsibility over and above others in her party to ensure that T&T continued to engage in the process of peaceful democratic change.
He added: “The UNC’s decision to seek legal recourse to annul the election will be like pouring fuel on a smoldering fire. “The divisiveness, rancour and even hate that can burst into flames will consume T&T, not the PNM or Dr Rowley’s Government.
“As difficult as it must have been for previous prime ministers who lost elections, they never sought to frustrate the will of the people or challenge the entire electoral process. They gracefully accepted the result and indeed moved on.”