Kamla's charm sweeps CARICOM
Published:Sunday | July 11, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU: Kamla Persad-Bissessar, prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, entered the final night party for the 31st CARICOM Heads of Government conference in Montego Bay, St James, at 9:50, two hours after the scheduled start time last Wednesday night, and all other leaders in the room instantly became backbenchers.
That is the power and charm of the dynamo who, the people of the Republic of 'Socaland' have chosen as their first female prime minister.
There is music in her soul and voluntary or not, it is difficult for her to be around this incredible vibration and sit still. So it came as no surprise when Errol Lee and the Bare Essentials drew for Ragga Ragga, the true Kamla appeared, with microphone in hand.
The woman's spirit and soul is lifted by the words from Redemption Song and Three Little Birds from the impressive catalogue of the late king of reggae, Robert Nesta 'Bob' Marley.
No one dared get Kamla off the stage as she became an integral part of the immensely talented party band.
The 'energiser bunny', who had sat through all the meetings of the Heads of Government Conference and who called her own press conferences almost daily, still had enough in her to take over the entire ballroom of the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa.
Before long, she succeeded in getting all her colleagues on the stage, including Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
"Look like I may have to be afraid of you, because look at how you turn this place upside down," quipped Golding, declaring his hands early, "I run against many people before, but I wouldn't want to run against you," Golding said laughingly.
Persad-Bissessar was as excited to be in the midst of the people who had come to respect and admire her tenacity and who welcomed her with open arms.
"I am happy to be back home, this is my second home and I want to thank the people of Jamaica who have helped me to be who I am. Those songs you are hearing, I sang them almost every night on my campaign to become prime minister," she revealed.
"I have been so impressed over the last three days, in particular with Prime Minister Golding, he held this conference together and at the end of it, he made sure we had meaningful discussions and, more importantly, decisions were made."
clear message
In the next breath, the Trinidadian prime minister was sending a clear message to her opponents, "I am supposed to be in a local government election, but I took one day off. When I get back, we will get in it," she declared.
But it was her one-on-one interview with The Sunday Gleaner that had this writer in awe, "I get my energy from God; during my campaign, I said put God in front."
When asked what role Bob Marley played in this, she responded, "Bob Marley was blessed by God with his voice; long after he has passed away his songs remain, they are universal messages throughout the world."
She revealed in no time how she used almost all of the reggae icon's songs, her two favourites being Redemption Song and Three Little Birds, with No Woman No Cry in third place, "To lift my spirit, lift my soul, anywhere you go in the world, people are inspired by Bob Marley."
She then started to sing the words, "Old Pirates yes they rob I, sold I to the merchant ship, minutes after they took I from the bottomless pit, but my hand was made strong by the hand of the Almighty."
"That lifted me throughout my campaign," Persad-Bissessar added.
jamaican relationship
The region's fourth female head of government started her relationship with Jamaica when she came here to study at the University of the West Indies, Mona. She later became a lecturer in the language and linguistics department at the university, while her husband, Gregory, did medicine.
Still later, she taught at the St Andrew High School For Girls, and after 14 years living in this country, she said, "The spirit of the people, their resilience and soul, their tremendous sense of patriotism," became the reasons for her admiration of the Jamaicans.
"Anywhere in the world Jamaicans are, they have a tremendous sense of dedication to their homeland, and if the rest of us in the Caribbean could take an example of that, we would be the example that your home is your home."
She said that she has accepted that the people of the region come from different parts of the globe, but what she doesn't accept is the idea of, "A Mother Africa; there is no Mother Africa, no Mother India, no Mother China, no Mother Europe, but you know what?" she asked.
"There is Grandmother Africa, Grandmother India; whatever we are, those roots are what shape us. The people who came just created this multiplicity, this diversity of talent and in the Caribbean we are so blessed to have this melting pot of people."
For the Trinidadian prime minister, the thing that pushes her hardest now is the need to take care of the region's future - the children. "I have seen enough throughout life that as a mother with a maternal in-stinct that brings the love and the joy to help a child.
"The children are our future; whatever we can do for the children, I will do and I will try, I hope Jamaica will buy into my plan to have the 'Caribbean Life Fund'. If we don't help our children, what type of people are we, animals?"
She said the first duty is to the children, "The adults will live and build whatever, but our first duty should be our children."
Her sister Wattie Newton, who left her job as a regional business manager of a pharmaceuticals company in London, England, six months ago to assist her on the campaign trail, nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's her, she is a fantastic person, lovely, a people person, loves family," said Newton.
According to Newton, she may or may not return to England, depending on how settled her sister becomes.
making history
Persad-Bissessar made history as the first female head of government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in May 2010, leading her party, the United National Congress (UNC) and a coalition of other parties into power.
She entered representational politics in 1987 and in 1994 was selected as an opposition government senator for the UNC. In the general election of 1995, she was elected member of parliament for the Siparia region where she was born.
Then Prime Minister Basdeo Panday named her his attorney general and minister of legal affairs. She held other senior ministerial positions, including minister of education, until 2001 when the UNC was booted out of office.
But Persad-Bissessar won the Siparia constituency and in 2006 rose to be the leader of the opposition.
Since January 2010, she has also been the political leader of the UNC after a bitter battle with Panday and his loyalists.
Now Persad-Bissessar is leading Trinidad and Tobago through the worst economic crisis the world has seen in decades, and while history will judge her performance, it does not need time for the region to know that she has the energy and the drive for the job.
Those who doubt it just need to ask those who were left in her wake as she took centre stage at her first CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.