Whatever you may say about Basdeo Panday – and after 40 years in politics you can say a lot – if you look at the most recent developments in the politics of opposition in Trinidad and Tobago objectively you'll have to agree that he is not the one blocking unity.
Panday himself admitted on WINTV this week that people who get into politics make mistakes. He admitted making many and said he is likely to make more.
Politicians, he said, are usually disappointed people because they want too much, expect too much and can never have it all. But the problem today, he explained, is that people are losing focus on the most important thing in this campaign – that is the removal of the PNM from office. The people he was referring to are the politicians, not the hundreds of thousands who are ready to change their government.
The Congress of the People (COP) cleary understands that but the point it is missing is how to make the change. And there lies the greatest tragedy in this campaign.
Ganga Singh, who the COP identifies only as the candidate for Caroni East, is making fun of the most serious issue that has faced the nation in decades.
Here's what he has to say: “Panday has only 12 candidates for this election so HE has only 48 hours to find more candidates to fight the election. Furthermore, he cannot find representatives to match the competence, caliber, moral fortitude and sense of loyalty to Trinidad and Tobago that we possess. That is why he is issuing these ridiculous deadlines; he is hoping to have a complete political party ready for the General Elections and the only way he can do this is if some other party unites with him.”
And here's the COP's Campaign Manager, Gerald Yetming: “We at the Congress of the People do not respond to ultimatums, especially when it is issued from a person and party that cannot be trusted; as such we will ignore it."
Basket is a bad thing and if people like Ganga and Yetming are serious about removing the PNM they better drop the wholesale propaganda and focus on the target.
The target is not Basdeo Panday or Jack Warner or the tens of thousands who still support the UNC Alliance; the target is the PNM and the goal is Whitehall.
Where is Winston Dookeran in all of this? He too seems to believe his own propaganda and is charging that Ramesh Maharaj is a PNM spy hired to try to destroy the COP.
It's time to trash the rhetoric.
Yes the COP has some really good people, but it doesn't have a monopoly on that. So does the PNM and the UNC Alliance.
And Ganga is blurring the lines between reality and propaganda. The UNC-A has already named 20 candidates and it certainly doesn't have to hang on a wait for the brain thrust from COP.
But it's not for me to judge the competence or lack of it among any of the political candidates. That's going to happen on Nov. 5.
What Panday is saying, and what COP is ignoring, is that time is running out. He's not giving ultimatums and creating deadlines.
Patrick Manning did that when he shut down Parliament and called the election. And even he is saying to the opposition "don't blame me, I gave you enough time to unite."
What is really at stake here is the future of Trinidad and Tobago. Even PNM people like Ken Valley are saying to the nation "do something about it, stop Manning." Michael J. Williams, the respected former President of the Senate is saying do something now or face a Manning dictatorship.
Basdeo Panday and Jack Warner have been begging people to work together. Local and international mediators have tried and given up. The people at every level are crying for opposition unity. Why are we listening to our own voices and not hearing the creams from the masses? So is the whole world wrong?
Are Ganga, Yetming and Dookeran really that naïve to believe that they are really going to wipe out the UNC Alliance, beat the PNM and march to Whitehall?
I know all of them and have worked with each of them. They are not dumb and they are not politically naïve.
They are brilliant men who have a problem with Basdeo Panday and Jack Warner. Panday and Warner have a problem with them. All of them have pride, all of them have big egos. All of them are human. All of them have made mistakes.
But Jack and Bas are ready to move on – for the national good.
Panday said the other night if you keep looking back, you can't move forward. That's why he is embracing the man he once dismissed as the worst 'neemakharam' ever.
Let's be truly honest. Nobody but the PNM is going to win the election unless the opposition unites.
And Panday would be wise to stop the pejorative references to the COP as the CORPSE. People have pride and they do silly things when their pride is hurt.
It's time for Winston Dookeran to stop the grandstanding, to tell Ganga and Yetming that this nation is more important than their personal problems with Basdeo Panday.
It's time for Winston to tell himself this nation is worth fighting for, that it's OK to swallow pride and stand up for Trinidad and Tobago.
Now is the time to unite. The deadline is NOW, not tomorrow or the day after. Think of the crime, the mismanagement of the economy, the arrogance, the discrimination, the lack of accountability, the patronage and nepotism, the absence of sustainable development, the disdain for agirculture, the real possibility of an Executive president with too much power, a 'budding dictatorship'?
This is where we are heading. Think of all this. This is why you are fighting this battle. This is why the people are asking you to unite. The people of Trinidad and Tobago have no one else to turn to at their greatest time of need.
Basdeo Panday is the man who said, "When you see me and a lion fighting, feel sorry for the lion."
He has won many political battles and lost many. His political instinct over 40 years sent him from oblivion to Whitehall. This is his final battle in a war that will determine forever, the direction of Trinidad and Tobago.
The people will not forget those who let them down. They don't want to give Patrick Manning and the PNM another five years. And they're depending on you to stop them.
Jai Parasram - Toronto - 10 Oct. 2007
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