“WHEN God says yes, nobody can say no,” Kamla Persad-Bissessar boldly declared in her victory speech on April 28 at her party’s Chaguanas headquarters – a testament to her patience like Job of the Bible.

For ten years, while she served as the first female and longest serving opposition leader, she, by her own admission, was humiliated, scorned and dismissed to the point of being politically irrelevant.

Yet like the proverbial phoenix, she has risen to secure her place as the ninth Prime Minister of TT at the age of 73.

For the second time, no less, creating history once more as the only woman in two non-consecutive terms, and one of East Indian descent, to achieve this distinction.

Her historic, celebrated ascension to power in 2010, leading the People's Partnership (PP), came to a crushing end years later for which she was vilified.

She acknowledged this at her swearing-in, “After demitting the office of the Prime Minister in 2015, for the last ten years, I was a woman scorned, a pariah to many, because in their eyes, I had nothing material to give.”

She did not engage in verbal spats or nasty retorts to match the attacks on her character about her sobriety and health, either from within or outside of her party, the United National Congress (UNC).

She endured it all, she said on the 2025 campaign platform, being called the worst names, but persevered to achieve the end goal to become prime minister.

“My body has aged from the years of battering, bruising, humiliation, ridicule, abuse and insults. I have been called the worst things anyone can be called. I have been called jammette, drunk, dog and everything nasty word in between, but to you, my loving UNC rank-and-file members, I was always Kamla to you and Aunty Kamla to your children.

“Through it all, I never became angry or bitter because in my darkest moments, I always had the love and comfort of the loyal rank-and-file UNC membership. I want to thank you for caring for and loving me.

“Political leadership is about love, empathy, and caring. It’s about competence, experience, and emotional intelligence. It’s about compassion borne out of shared experiences of sacrifice. Strong, competent leadership is not about buffing, berating, blaming and bullying citizens; it’s about listening, comforting, encouraging and accepting responsibility for the lives and livelihoods of our people.”

Political pushback

During the near decade-long People’s National Movement (PNM) governance under Dr Keith Rowley, Persad-Bissessar kept an eagle eye on the government, standing in the gap of people she felt were under fire, taking on controversial issues.

She exposed the Police Service Commission's (PSC) 2021 merit-list fiasco and its withdrawal involving former president Paula Mae-Weekes after a conversation with Rowley. That incident led to the collapse of the PSC.

She also took on the government when they attempted to amend the process of appointing a police commissioner.

She was instrumental in mounting a legal challenge against government’s proposal