PM bows out of debate

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago Debates Commission is appealing to Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar to re-consider her decision not to participate in a leader’s debate on Tuesday as the voters prepare to elect Mayors and Local Government councilors on October 21.
The debate on Tuesday would have involved the leaders of the coalition People’s Partnership government, the main opposition People’s National Movement, the recently formed Independent Liberal Party (ILP) and the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ).
But legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar, who leads the Congress of the People (COP) party – the second biggest partner in the four-member coalition administration –, said he would be participating in the debate instead of Prime Minister Persad Bissessar, who had initially given an undertaking that she would participate.