THE EDITOR: For over a decade, she was a woman scorned. Scorned by political opponents who had the vilest things to say about her morality, decency and integrity. Scorned by the public who believed these rumours and generated their own.
Scorned by people within her own party who rejected her leadership style and inability (or unwillingness) to help them achieve their goals. On Monday, she emerged victorious – the cornerstone the builders rejected.
The UNC’s general election campaign will go down in history as the most strategic political campaign in TT because of its messaging, media management, organisation, use of technology, and allocation of human and financial resources.
This was the first political campaign where an opposition party, not the incumbent, set the tone for the elections. This campaign should be studied across the Caribbean for generations to come.
The UNC’s messaging was in stark contrast to its political opponents who never got the memo that the country, particularly its youth, wanted to move away from tribal and gutter politics.
While her opponent spoke about “fighting” and the virtues of youth, Persad-Bissessar spoke about compassion, competence and hope. Acknowledging her battle-scarred body, she might have been hobbled, but she never stooped.
She remained on-message, having learned from the “blank-man” pseudo-controversy in the waning days of GE 2020. This campaign had a remarkable absence of unforced errors which dogged the UNC for a decade.
An eye-catching feature of this campaign was that despite the myriad of personalities involved, there appeared to be fewer leaks from within her party. This might have been because the “purge” she induced was more thorough and effective than any laxative in the pharmacy today.
The UNC won because they offered a competing vision for the country, not just because people were fed-up of the PNM. Persad-Bissessar appeared more believable (she was repentant, relatable, likeable and genuine).
Her biography included waiting tables in the UK and moving from house to house before higher education changed her fortunes. This is the Trinbagonian dream if ever there was such a thing!
The most enduring image of this election campaign will be the outpouring of racial unity, solidarity, and sheer joy on the faces of Trinbagonians in the past six weeks. This was too widespread to have been bought. This was the real deal and it heralds a watershed moment in TT’s maturity and post-colonial development.
She will take office in a country that is much more discerning and sophisticated than that occupied by her predecessor.
The building blocks of the UNC’s victory on Monday were laid brick by brick over a decade. These blocks include her nation-wide listening tours that deepened her empathy and shaped her policies; a professionalised image of the UNC; an extended arm in friendship to a wide cross-section of society and the unexpected injection of discipline into the party.
KPB has instilled a level of discipline that was formerly the sole preserve o
