As the first sitting of the 4th session of the 12th Parliament got underway with the convening of both Houses, a newly-formed political party made its presence known.
The National Democratic Congress was calling for the removal of the Prime Minister.
00:00 We didn't see any protest action at the start of the ceremonial opening of this session of Parliament, as is sometimes the case.
00:08 However, there was the launch of a petition, and that comes from the National Democratic Congress.
00:14 Chairman of the NDC David John isn't pleased with past statements made by the Prime Minister.
00:20 The main reason we have for this petition is a recent statement made by the Prime Minister, where he said, and the petition has it, where he said that people of a certain race will be given guns to shoot people of another race.
00:37 We find that most reprehensible, it's vulgar, it's really reckless.
00:44 Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the time was highlighting what he said was the pushing of an idea that crime is committed by people of one race, and as such, that one race could come under attack from another race.
00:57 NDC interim political leader Bonifacio Villalba cites inflation, the rise in fuel prices, and the closure of PetroTrin to further back his party's decision.
01:07 We are actually on the way down because we are no longer producing oil in this country. PetroTrin is closed down, and in the no sugar industry, it is also closed down. We have no import sugar.
01:24 However, it was in 2003 that Karenine 1975 Limited was shut down under the People's National Movement, Patrick Manning-led administration.
01:34 The NDC was formed in June 2023, Villalba tells us, for the August 14th local government elections. It was throwing support behind the United National Congress and National Transformation Alliance.
01:48 As of now, the party says it is still in talks with the UNC and would hand over the petition to the opposition leader when it is completed.
01:56 We will be going as far as Tobago to get people to sign the petition, to present it to the official opposition, to move a motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
02:08 And why did you wait until the ceremonial opening of the parliament before you launched this petition?
02:15 Well, the thing about it is, we chose today because we believe that we will get people of interest today, including the media, to put forward the seriousness of this petition.
02:31 At the time of the interview, the petition only had a few names affixed to it. Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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