For Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the political honeymoon appears to be over.

Forget the expected political criticisms over policy and expenditure at the national level, or her international acclaim as woman leader, or her slaying of Manning /Panday/Ramesh.

Persad-Bissessar's rock solid support in her constituency of Siparia, the place where her "rise" began, appears to be eroding.

The fiery protests at Penal Rock Road, Penal, last week were a desperate effort for some constituents of Siparia to get her attention.

They were fed up of the neglect which they believe has been meted out to them since she took up the office of the Prime Minister nearly two years ago.

To media cameras, they shouted in frustration: "We want Kamla."

Persad-Bissessar, who attended a function half hour's drive away from her constituents on the afternoon of the protests, was asked about the issue.

She responded that the matter would be looked into. Her response infuriated her constituents, and they met in an emergency meeting that night and voiced their disgust over the lack of representation in the area.

The next day, the protests intensified with at least 100 more residents joining in, gridlocking the 16-mile road at some 15 points, with burning debris and tyres.

The people of the Penal Rock Road said Persad-Bissessar, with her use of State helicopters could have been in Siparia in minutes.

They know, also, that she spends most of her downtime at her private home near Palmiste in San Fernando, a 20-minute drive from to her constituency office in Siparia. It is no secret, they say, when her blinking blue light entourage speeds into San Fernando some mornings, for her to catch her helicopter waiting at the helipad on the compound of the San Fernando General Hospital.

Questioned again last Friday about her lack of face time with her constituents, Persad-Bissessar said: "My husband and children say the same thing all the time. That they don't see me enough. I mean the job takes almost every minute of my life so there will be times when I cannot be in places all the time as much as I would like to be. Certainly I would like to see them as well. I think yesterday my office staff asked them to come in for a meeting to see how best we can address their concerns at the office."

One 60-year-old resident, who has lived in the area nearly all his life said: "If we were getting what we want, we would not have had a fiery protest. If we were getting what we want, as our MP supposed to do, we would not have protested at all."

Speaking to several of Persad-Bissessar's constituents last week, there is a feeling that residents feel that they are taken for granted by her, although they have voted for her as their MP on consecutive occasions and she has held that position for more than two decades.

However, since becoming Prime Minister almost two years ago, her extra duties have cut into her time with them. They said they feel cut off. They feel taken for granted.

"It could be that she is too busy doing other things and has confidence in other people in her constituency to do things," resident Lita Jhilmit said. "When you check the records, she always wins in this constituency and she wins by a landslide all the time. So she has the confidence of the people of this constituency and she takes it for granted that she will always win."

Jhilmit said: "We are upset that the MP is not showing any interest at all in the villagers. The villagers are complaining that they don't see the MP."

Constituents said over the last two years Persad-Bissessar was not present in her constituency office to meet with them. Instead, she has delegated her MP duties to others working in her office to meet her constituents and listen to complaints and appeals.

She was absent at a meeting held last Thursday at her constituency office with the protesting residents, represented instead by others.

Her constituents complained that Persad-Bissessar is present in the constituency and her constituency office only during official functions.

On Friday the Sunday Express telephoned the MP's office and spoke to an office employee asking to meet Persad-Bissessar about a complaint in her constituency. The employee said any concern addressed by any member of staff here will be carried directly to her.

"You can come on Thursday. In her absence, Senator Danny Maharaj is here," the employee said.

Pressed for an answer on if there was any day likely to meet Persad-Bissessar, the employee said: "No, I can't say off-hand. Her schedule is very busy ma'am. It is your duty as a constituent to come into the office and let us know (about the complaint)."

Aaron Moyne, 30, said: "Persons who go to meet her instead meet her representatives. Since she came into power, no one can say they met her personally to ventilate issues. We know she is the PM but she is also the MP."

Moyne noted that even former Prime Minister Patrick Manning always made his presence felt amongst his constituency.

"That is why he has such a stronghold on San Fernando East. Every Thursday he would come and spend hours with his constituents. But she is sending other people because she is too busy. She could take a page out of Manning's book," he said.

One of the sore points with residents, which spurred on the fiery protests last Tuesday, is how Persad-Bissessar fails to treat with a certain area at Penal Rock Road, and seems to have drawn a boundary within the constituency.

That area is home to some 12,000 residents between Ribero Trace Junction and Basse Terre Junction.

"This week when she made the statement that she knows her boundary runs until the eight and a half mile mark people were upset," a constituent said. "Some persons near Basse Terre Junction haven't had pipeborne water for 30 years. But she is the Prime Minister of the whole country anyhow, so she should not be making a boundary."

That was the reason that triggered day two of protests on Tuesday, constituents said. They said that annually during her Christmas Toy Drive, she does not enter a certain part of Penal Rock Road to distribute toys to children, who wait eagerly to see her every year.

"Every year we would question it because we would feel bad for the people there. You have children there, waiting for the PM and they could never see her. Everytime we query it they say she is running late or she didn't expect so much crowd lower down hence the reason why she didn't go down there. She is the MP. All of that triggered off the protest," Jhilmit said.

She said she wished Persad-Bissessar could make her presence felt more in Penal.

"I know she is the PM and she has her family and personal life. But if she could make a quarterly visit, or even annually, that would be the best thing. People would be happy and believe she is seeking a real interest."

Moyne likened the situation to a marriage on the brink of falling apart.

"We don't hate the woman, nor her government," Jhilmit said. "But just as everyone is getting a little bit of attention we too could get that and we would be happy. If you are doing your job well people would vote for you when the time comes. But if not, then it would show at the end of the year."

—Additional reporting

by Camille Bethel