THE Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago (ESCTT) says it has no interest in engaging in a political back and forth with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar over the controversy surrounding this year's Emancipation Day celebrations, insisting it remains an apolitical organisation focused on national unity.

Speaking during a virtual news conference yesterday, ESCTT chairman Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada said the committee believed the Prime Minister's public comments were based on misinformation and sought to 'clear the air' about what transpired. 'We really don't want to go into a back and forth between ourselves and the Prime Minister. We don't think it's necessary. What we're trying to avoid is for it to become a political back and forth between one group or another, one party or another. We're not interested,' Uzoma-Wadada said.

She said the ESCTT believed Persad-Bissessar 'may have been misled about what happened' both at the Treasury Building and during the event at the Queen's Park Savannah. 'I think it is a storm in a teacup. Frankly, I don't think it destroys all the work that we've done,' she said.