PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s newest political party – the Patriotic Front was launched on Saturday by Mickela Panday, the daughter of former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.
Putting youth at the helm
Speaking at the launch held in the town of Chaguanas, to the south of here, Panday pledged to revolutionize governance by putting young people at the helm.
According to Panday – who will lead the party – the Patriotic Front will form the next government. She also promised that young people would influence political decision-making in a Patriotic Front government and urged them to get involved.
“We do not believe that our youths are the problem as some people advocate. In fact, the Patriotic Front believes our youths are the answer to the future development of our nation. For too long, we have alienated our youths by denying them a meaningful role in our decision-making process and our development. Instead of using our youths to stick up posters and engage in propaganda activities as some political parties do, we must engage our youths in meaningful participation in the political decision-making processes of the country,” Panday said.
Colonial mentality
Concerning lawlessness, she attributed this to a “colonial mentality” and said that once elected, her party will embark on a massive re-education program from the lowest to the highest levels, adding that State-owned media would be responsible for producing programs to help achieve this objective.
Must reform education system
“If we are to develop our most valuable resource, our human resource, we have to reform the education system. The Patriotic Front believes that our education system is still colonial in its nature and geared towards producing personnel and workers for the metropolitan countries. Our system should produce a core of highly skilled inventor and innovators with relevance to our needs as a nation. It is urgent, therefore, that we re-orient our education system and syllabuses in all our learning institutions to produce investors and innovators, and creative minds, instead of merely being copiers of others.”
Panday told reporters that she was given a mandate to form a new party when she met with family and supporters on May 20, 2018.
She also announced that the party – that is open to anyone, has already been registered with the Elections and Boundaries Commission although a decision had not yet been made about contesting all constituencies in the next general election.
The party was launched on the 86th birthday of her father, who was also present, having just returned from seeking medical treatment overseas.
In commenting on the formation of this new political party, the senior Panday says it seeks to develop a nation and getting into office was only one step, adding that this was going to be done by involving young people who want change.
