Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has launched a scathing cri­tique against her de­trac­tors, claim­ing they are “con­sumed with an ir­ra­tional ha­tred that has dri­ven them de­ranged” as she fierce­ly re­pu­di­at­ed the back­lash sur­round­ing her ab­sence from yes­ter­day’s African Eman­ci­pa­tion Day ob­ser­vances in the cap­i­tal city.

Clar­i­fy­ing that she had nev­er com­mit­ted to at­tend­ing the func­tion host­ed by the Eman­ci­pa­tion Sup­port Com­mit­tee at the Lidj Ya­su Omowale Eman­ci­pa­tion Vil­lage, Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah, the Prime Min­is­ter re­vealed that she had cho­sen in­stead to spend ded­i­cat­ed, pri­vate time with her fam­i­ly over the hol­i­day—a de­ci­sion she ar­gued has been un­fair­ly politi­cised by the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) and its base.

“I re­al­ly don’t know what PNM MPs and their sup­port­ers want. When I wear African cloth­ing they curse me; if I don’t wear it they curse me. When I par­tic­i­pate in African cul­tur­al ac­tiv­i­ties, they curse me; when I don’t par­tic­i­pate, they curse me. When I speak to praise the con­tri­bu­tions of Afro Trinida­di­ans, they curse me; if I don’t speak to praise, they curse me. I don’t know what the PNM MPs and their sup­port­ers want. They ap­pear con­sumed with ir­ra­tional ha­tred that it sends them de­ranged,” she said in a What­sApp re­sponse to Guardian Me­dia on her ab­sence.