00:00In her 64th Independence Day message to the UNC family, Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissessa paid tribute to the mothers,
00:07fathers and grandparents, whom she said endured in the lagoons, cane fields and oil fields, to give them a fighting
00:14chance pre- and post-independence.
00:17She said the party's membership was born of people mired in poverty, at times survived on salt and rice while
00:24drinking water from ponds and springs.
00:27The Prime Minister told the party faithful that their ancestors fetched water in boxcarts and bullcarts, had no health care,
00:36possessed one outfit of clothes, and usually had to walk or ride a bicycle for miles in the sun or
00:42rain to reach any government service.
00:45Mrs. Passat-Bissessa claimed that these people were objects of ridicule and hatred in this country for years under the
00:51PNM post-1962 independence.
00:54She urged them to keep working for their sons and daughters and to have love in their communities, but went
01:01on to declare, quote,
01:02I also say do not crawl on your belly for anyone. It's either peace or total war, nothing in between,
01:09end quote.
01:09She said the leadership of the party must never fall into the hands of weak men and women, advising that
01:16finness and diplomacy must be backed up with steelness and savagery when required to defend the UNC membership.
01:24Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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