Lives of people will get even harder under PNM, Kamla Persad on inflation

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: Leader of Opposition Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad Bissessar said that life in-country would get harder and people will continue to be punished under the People's National Movement led Government.  She said the future under the Government is dark as the latest hike in fuel prices.The former prime minister said citizens should brace for increases in goods and services across the board, from food to transport.The increase, she maintained, is a direct result of the closure of the Petrotrin refinery.Speaking to the local media by phone, Persad-Bissessar said the increase in kerosene prices is a major issue."Many diesel transport operators- for example, maxis, taxis and trucks-were mixing the diesel and kerosene half and a half to keep costs down.Now they will all have no choice but to raise prices. It seems that anything the ordinary man tries to make ends meet, this Government finds a way to punish," she said."How much more can the poor man take? These increases in the cost of gasoline will not impact the PNM, their friends and their financiers," she said, adding that the Government falsely claimed everyone must share the burden, but they are living off the fat of the land whilst the people suffer from scraps.Persad-Bissessar said the price increase is a glaring example of how disconnected the Keith Rowley regime is from the people."If Rowley was on the ground, he would hear the cries of the unemployed, the hungry and the grieving. After facing two years of hardship and suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic, instead of lifting the people from despair, Rowley throws salt in their wounds,' she said.She noted this country was once a proud oil-producing land with its own refinery, and all of that was destroyed by the PNM.