Anna Deonarine-Rampersad hasn’t thought about becoming a politician despite her involvement in the campaign for the Chaguanas West by-election. The 35-year-old attorney and mother of two has been speaking on the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) platform for the past few weeks. Just by doing that she’s received hate mail saying she’s an embarrassment to Indian women, but it has not deterred her.
She has read letters on behalf of ILP interim political leader Jack Warner at cottage meetings and addressed large crowds even though she said she’s shy and very private. “I tell Mr Warner all the time that the reason I am here is to help you and to further this cause. The fact that you are a representative of the people for so long and I think that you deserve to be there, I will speak on your platform,” she said.
She said she believed that the formation of the ILP and a possible win tomorrow could change the political landscape that would affect the way people think and allow them to move forward. Deonarine-Rampersad said she did not think that as an MP and minister, Warner did anything wrong to warrant the treatment he’s receiving now. So who exactly is she and what’s her association with Warner and the ILP?
The Sunday Guardian caught up with Deonarine-Rampersad at her Regency Chambers office on Ramsaran Street in Chaguanas on Wednesday.
‘I am also a lagahoo’
It was no secret; her dress was green. Green is the symbolic colour of the ILP. She explained that before the 2010 general election she was a volunteer at Warner’s constituency office when he was the MP for Chaguanas West. She started off by assisting him with pro bono legal work. “So on a Saturday when he would be at his office and there were hundreds of people there, I would be there giving free legal advice.
“So that whole lagahoo thing...I would fall into that category,” she said. Deonarine-Rampersad would leave her husband, ten-year-old son and six-month-old baby at home around 2 am on a Saturday “to work throughout the day trying to help people.” Working for people is important to her just as it is to Warner, she said. “It should always be people first.”
‘I talk from my heart’
When a person is passionate about issues it makes it easy to speak out. That’s what she said in reference to her many public speeches. “When I talk, I talk from the heart. It’s not as though I sit and make up what to talk about. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing because what will happen if I’m in a situation where I don’t believe in something and I have to talk in a different way,” she said.
She said Warner and many others have been impressed by the way she spoke and she insisted it was because of the issues. She’s not fazed that people don’t know her as an attorney or even that she’s the daughter of former United National Congress councillor Shama Deonarine. Deonarine was councillor for St Helena/Warrenville and was also an executive board member of Clico. “I know what she (mother) put into the UNC, and I really have nothing to worry about,” Deonarine-Rampersad said.
She added that her mother and many others had been ostracised by the party. As for recognition in her profession, she said she was more of the office type since her work involved banking, land and corporate matters. “I don’t do a lot of court work so you’d find me more in the office and not all in court,” she said.
‘It’s about the people’
Her involvement with Warner and the ILP was because of Warner’s work ethic and ability to deliver. It was the “core reason.” “I know Mr Warner in terms of the work he puts into the constituency and the genuine concern and care he has for the constituents here. “I see it,” Deonarine-Rampersad said. She said Warner gets very disappointed when there isn’t an avenue to provide assistance for someone. She said she admired his determination to always find a way to help.
“When you work with him you get to see a different side to him. “He remains at the office until very late in the night until he sees everybody.” As for the allegations surrounding Warner, she said they were baseless and not substantiated. She said, “No charges have been laid or anything like that. If allegations are all you are going on then basically you would never have a Parliament sitting because there are allegations against many people.”
Deonarine-Rampersad said Warner was working hard so that the people would benefit and not him. She said it was all about performance.
More about Anna
• Attended Holy Faith Convent, Couva
• Law degree obtained externally
• Legal Practice Course, University of Wolverhampton
• Married at 21
• Has two sons
• Lives in Central and has two siblings