By PETER GREEN
I sat inside the Laventille Community Centre on Wednesday night for the PNM Public Meeting entitled, “In Defence of our Democracy and Freedom”.
And I was disappointed..not with the meeting, but by one of the PNM’s youngest stars, Kareem Marcelle.
Dressed in all white, Marcelle took the podium as a very bitter young man. And while he got the small crowd cheering and laughing…some jumping off their seats, Marcelle did not know that he did himself a disservice. Already, social media has erupted over his chants and words.
He took basket from….and I would leave out his name for now. For a man who rose from the ghetto as an activist, to become an alderman in the Port-of-Spain City Corporation, he went beyond his more established colleagues.
Among his cheering posse were PNM political leader, Penny Beckles-Robinson, Stuart Young, Marvin Gonzales, Emery Browne, Hans Des Vignes, Nyan Gadsy-Dolly, Lennox Rattansingh and Chris Birchwood to name a few.
In his attempt to castigate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC and “her band of clowns”, Marcelle told his hometown supporters, “I swear to you I will be biased in your favour. I swear to you I will treat the UNC with malice. I swear to you the people of Laventille West, I will treat you with favor. I swear to you that the people of Laventille West, will get a fair share of the economic pie.” He did not promise to serve ALL the people.
He recalled the UNC calling a State of Emergency on August 21, 2011. He now says the UNC is back with the same plan.
He called on his supporters to ensure that when the Local Government Elections are called in 2027, the UNC should NOT get even one corporation. He even said after the elections, the UNC should not even get an Alderman in the Laventille/San Juan Regional Corporation.
Marcelle, an attorney, challenged Persad-Bissessar “if you bad and you want to cuff down somebody, call a general elections now.”
While most of the people in the community centre were cheering, there were some next to me expressing disappointment at Marcelle, their young and vibrant MP from the Beetham Gardens.
