PEOPLE’S Progressive Party (PPP) Councillor, Bishram Kuppen, was on Monday reprimanded for making what was considered to be a racially inciting statement against the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).

The M&CC recently took a decision to remove vendors along Alexander Street and Kuppen was subsequently quoted as saying, publicly, that he thought the move was ethnically motivated.
Town Clerk Royston King, during his announcements at the statutory meeting, said Kuppen’s statement can affect the work of the council and undermine its authority. He said the councillor did not do a proper investigation as African vendors were also among those removed.
Kuppen said it was the vendors themselves who reported this to him and that upon checking, he indeed saw that those arrested included only East Indians. “I didn’t see any other race,” he maintained.
Kuppen recalled that he also saw that two African vendors, one selling near a bakery and the other operating a mobile hardware store, were allowed to remain while the others were moved.

Mayor Patricia Chase-Green said Kuppen’s statement was intentional and racial and she added that councillors should aim to bridge the racial gap instead of widening it.
The Town Clerk said at any level, it is wrong for a respected councillor to make such a statement publicly. “That statement could not be justified. And I am taking it very seriously. Is it Mr. Kuppen’s intention to start some racial disturbance? What is his hidden agenda? Even if in his own heart he perceives this might be a racial movement, why would a councillor make such a statement in public? It’s beyond me. And it is not true,” King told the Chronicle.