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WORLD NEWSMonday 7 September 2015

Trinidad PM in election fight over crime, corruption claims 

Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar speaks in Perth, Australia. Persad-  People’s Partnership co-       Trinis,” said Karen Bart Al-
                                                                                                  alition.                       exander, a social devel-
Bissessar, the twin-island’s first female prime minister, faces a tough re-election on Monday,    She has called crime           opment planner.
                                                                                                  the No. 1 problem in the       Persad-Bissessar has in-
Sept. 7, 2015 amid complaints that her government has tolerated corruption and failed to curb     country and proposes           cluded officials of African
                                                                                                  better policing and a ze-      descent in her Cabinet,
violent crime. 							                                       (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)              ro-tolerance approach.         including Warner, who
                                                                                                  “Now is not the time to        was national security min-
TONY FRASER                    Persad-Bissessar and the      tion, some lobbied by                experiment with any in-        ister until April 2013. He
Associated Press               party of opposition leader    ousted former world soc-             experienced party,” she        resigned after an ethics
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad        Keith Rowley.                 cer official Jack Warner,            said at a recent rally.        panel of the regional CO-
(AP) — The first female        The two rivals have a         who is seeking to recap-             “You need to give us an-       CACAF soccer federation
prime minister of Trini-       similar ideology and their    ture a seat in Parliament            other five years to finish     released a report accus-
dad and Tobago faces a         support is divided largely    while fighting extradition           our work.”                     ing him of enriching him-
tough fight for re-election    along ethnic lines. Each      to the U.S. on corruption            The prime minister has         self through fraud during
Monday amid complaints         claims he or she will do a    charges.                             promised a new highway,        his tenure with the orga-
about corruption and           better job of tackling vio-   Five parties and several             a children’s hospital, free    nization.
violent crime in the twin-     lent crime and managing       independents are con-                laptops for primary school     He was one of 14 people
island Caribbean nation.       the country’s natural gas     testing the 41 seats in the          students and grants to sin-    indicted in the U.S. on cor-
Polls show a close race for    and oil resources amid        Parliament.                          gle mothers.                   ruption charges involv-
control of Parliament be-      falling prices.               Persad-Bissessar, 63, took           The United National Con-       ing international soccer’s
tween the coalition led        The two also have traded      office in May 2010 at the            gress, the largest contin-     governing body FIFA and
by Prime Minister Kamla        accusations of corrup-        head of the four-party               gent in the prime minis-       has been battling extra-
                                                                                                  ter’s coalition, has its base  dition. Polls suggest he is
                                                                                                  of support with people of      unlikely to regain the seat
                                                                                                  East Indian descent who        he lost when his term ex-
                                                                                                  make up about 35 per-          pired in June.
                                                                                                  cent of the population of      The People’s National
                                                                                                  1.2 million.                   Movement led the coun-
                                                                                                  Opposition leader Keith        try to independence in
                                                                                                  Rowley, leader of the Peo-     1962 and held power for
                                                                                                  ple’s National Movement,       most of the next half cen-
                                                                                                  has his base among peo-        tury.
                                                                                                  ple of African descent,        It has accused the gov-
                                                                                                  who also make up about         ernment of mismanaging
                                                                                                  35 percent. Some of his        the oil-based economy,
                                                                                                  supporters accuse the rul-     which has averaged an-
                                                                                                  ing party of taking ethnic     nual growth of only half a
                                                                                                  politics too far.              percent over the past five
                                                                                                  “I am against this govern-     years.
                                                                                                  ment because of its eth-       Rowley said the economy
                                                                                                  nic agenda in promoting        needs to be diversified
                                                                                                  its Indo supporters, giving    to lessen the island’s de-
                                                                                                  them the major jobs in the     pendence on its energy
                                                                                                  public service over Afro-      sector.q

Guyana’s government says it will undercut river bridge toll 

Associated Press               tion last month, the gov-     years.                               (97 kilometers) southeast      vate operators giving the
GEORGETOWN, Guyana             ernment had ordered           On Sunday, State Minister            of the city, is the lifeline   firm a monopoly.
(AP) — Guyana’s govern-        that a $10 toll for vehicles  Joseph Harmon said au-               connection between the         President David Granger
ment said on Sunday that       crossing the Berbice River    thorities will offer vehicles        capital and the coastal        has said the government is
it will let private boat own-  bridge be reduced by          a cheaper way across                 region near Suriname. It is    reacting to demands from
ers offer taxi service across  about $3, but company         the river by allowing pri-           controlled by an opposi-       students and the poor
a river near the Suriname      directors refused and in-     vate vessels to compete              tion businessman.              who cannot afford rates
border after the opposi-       stead asked for a 50 per-     with the toll bridge and             The previous government        for crossing the bridge to
tion-linked company that       cent increase in rates. The   will help the boat owners            had banned the state fer-      go to school and to ac-
controls the bridge over it    Berbice River Company         keep rates down by subsi-            ry service from competing      cess state services on the
refused to lower tolls.        Inc. has the rights to op-    dizing their services.               with the facility and had      other side of the river in
In its budget presenta-        erate the bridge for 21       The bridge, about 60 miles           also done the same to pri-     New Amsterdam town.q
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