PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has doubled down on her criticism of Independent senators.

Several Opposition members yesterday took issue with comments made by Persad-Bissessar, in which she said she would not be surprised if Independent senators fail to support the Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO) legislation, arguing they were not truly independent but appointed by a President who was a “low-level PNM functionary”.

Asked whether she regretted those remarks, Persad-Bissessar re­spon­ded, “Why should I regret telling the truth? These shameless President’s senators had no cou­rage to contest any election to sit in that Parliament, they are not there because of the will of the people. The entire country knows that these people were appointed because they are bootlickers and brown-no­sers.”