The country can now exhale November 6, 2013 With the formation of the COP in 2007, many political observers noted that there were three political leaders on the national scene (Patrick Manning, Basdeo Panday and Winston Dookeran) and that of the three, two are of East Indian descent. The view was also expressed by a few, that it was entirely possible for an East Indian leader to be in government and another in opposition. This has caused discomfiture to many. The PNM constituency had not been growing and the politically mobile constituencies lay outside of the PNM. With no significant development between 2007 and January 2010, everyone assumed that things were okay politically. With the dumping of Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and the alignment with Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Jack Warner gauged that it was only a matter of time, before he would replace her as leader of the UNC and as Prime Minister. Upon the formation of the People’s Partnership Cabinet, there was speculation that he, Warner, had the support of a number of elected parliamentarians. There was also the view that the appointment of senators to prominent ministries, was designed to thwart any insurgency which could threaten the stability of the ruling coalition. For the three-and-a-half years that he was in the Government, Jack Warner was a distraction from the governance of the country. He sucked the oxygen from the affairs of State by regular and often extended daily appearances in the media. With Herbert Volney by his side in the Parliament, the Government would have been faced with a barrage of unnecessary distractions. In March 2012, Jack Warner endorsed Lyndira Oudit and Herbert Volney for the posts of vice chairman and deputy political leader of the UNC respectively. When Warner contested the post of chairman, there were some who contested positions and were known to be aligned to him. There was Fuad Khan deputy (political leader), Natasha Navas (deputy political leader), Sunil Ramjitsingh (deputy political leader) and Amarnath Jagessar (policy and strategy officer). This was a cabal, and should it have been elected, could have hijacked the UNC. In June this year, Warner made his grab for power, when he called on Persad- Bissessar to seek re-election for the post of political leader. From that time, Warner went off and launched his party with a blistering attack on the leader month after month. The test within the UNC has been to consolidate the support of its members and supporters. This we saw happening in the local government election with the recapture of the cultural heartland of Felicity. The UNC has the potential to fight and defeat the PNM on a one-on-one basis, but this cannot be done with having to deal with the side-shows of Warner or Volney. Now that they are out of the way the country can exhale. The St Joseph by-election shows that Dr Rowley cannot grow the PNM and that with him as leader, the PNM will suffer defeat against combined forces. The UNCs celebration was no doubt due to the fact that it slew the dragon. The UNC now has to re-attract those young voters who went for glitz and glamour, and regain the confidence of the population by governing according to how it says it will govern. The Government should note that Trinidad is demographically multicultural, formally polyethnic and institutionally monocultural. It will be a tribute to its legacy, if in the process of constitutional reform, the Government should introduce an institution that is reflective of the pluralism of this country. The Government has to continue implementing its policies and having done its duty, leave it up to the populace to judge. Elections have taught us that with all the propaganda over the years, the people are wiser than we care to believe. Ronald Bhola Chaguanas
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 13:39:29 +0000
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