00:00Opposition Leader Penelope Beckles has explained her participation in what she said were high-level engagements with UN agencies and bodies that took place alongside the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
00:15This, as Dr. Kirk Magoo, Public Relations Officer for the party that leads the government, the UNC, has questioned her presence at the UN.
00:23In a Facebook post on Sunday, Opposition Leader Beckles said that having served as a former ambassador at the United Nations, she understands the power of ensuring that her voice as an elected member of Parliament and one of only ten women in the lower house of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is heard and represented.
00:43The Opposition Leader further said that in between her UN engagements, she was delighted to connect with persons she called esteemed colleagues such as Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Allness, the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, and the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the UN, Ambassador Walton Webson.
01:04Dr. Magoo had stated on his Facebook page that Opposition Leader Beckles is not authorized to speak on behalf of the government of Trinidad and Tobago.
01:12Dr. Magoo had also questioned whether the Opposition Leader was at the UN to deliberately cause confusion or to contradict the government.
01:20Opposition Leader Beckles said in her Facebook post on Sunday that from Parliament to the United Nations, leadership and representation remain her mission and that she is always humbled by the opportunities to be invited to share her experiences on the world stage.
01:37The government of Trinidad and Tobago's delegation at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly was led by Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Besasar.
01:46Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
