Former PNM MP Swaratsingh endorses UNC and Kamla Persad Bissessar ahead of 2025 elections

Trinidad and Tobago: The former Member of Parliament of People’s National Movement (PNM) Kennedy Swaratsingh has publicly endorsed Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar and the United National Congress ahead of the General Elections 2025.  

The elections which are slated for April 28 comes four months prior the scheduled day after the newly appointed Prime Minister Stuart Young announced snap elections.

This declaration by Swaratsingh came before a packed and overflowing audience at the UNC’s Town Hall Meeting which took place on Thursday evening. The event attracted hundreds of additional attendees spilling outside the main hall to hear the plans and ambitions of the opposition party.

Notably, the endorsement by Swaratsingh follows an increasing wave of high-profile shifts from the PNM to the UNC which includes Wendy Lewis, former Protocol Officer under PM Patrick Manning and Phillip Watts, former constituency executive member and campaign manager for both Foster Cummings and Maxie Cuffie.  

Kamla Persad unveils UNC’s plan to fix economy 

The meeting further featured the Leader of the Opposition outlining UNC’s plans to rebuild the economy of Trinidad and Tobago which she claimed was mismanaged for the past 10 years by PNM.

The major initiatives disclosed by her which she assures will transform the economic landscape and enhance the ease of doing business includes no property taxes on manufacturers’ plant, land, equipment and buildings, lowering corporate taxes over the next five years, no increase in utility prices under a UNC government, double taxation agreements with South America, West Africa and Commonwealth nations to attract foreign investment. 

Other policies included streamlining and simplifying environmental approvals for businesses, legislative reform to safeguard minority shareholders and speed up contract resolution times, mandating Spanish as a second language in all the schools to boost regional trade opportunities, investing in the Bureau of Standards to safeguard local manufacturers from inferior imported goods, enhancing CARICOM trade agreements to secure better deals for local businesses.

Moreover, the UNC leader and Leader of Opposition reminded the attendees that the UNC has a history of delivering results during its tenure from 2010 to 2015 such as creation of 55,000 new jobs, highest level of national savings and wealth in T&T’s history and major increases in local and foreign investment.

She firmly said that the UNC did it before and will do it again, while encouraging everyone to bring her back as the Prime Minister during the upcoming general elections.