Unlucky COP in tailspin

Gillian Lucky's departure from the Congress of the People (COP) has put the infant party in an awkward position as it applies maximum damage control to put a good face on a bad situation.

If you listen to the party's leaders you will conclude that all is well and Lucky's departure is nothing significant.

COP leader Winston Dookeran has shrugged off the latest political development and his trusted lieutenant, Selby Wilson, is suggesting that if anybody is going to be hurt it would be Lucky, whom he describes as a person who is known to leave parties.

"Her departure won't set COP back," Wilson told the Trinidad Guardian. "It'll more likely set her back since she resigned from too many things too often for no particular reason."

He suggested that Lucky is opportunistic. "People will query what she stands for - whether Gillian is for Gillian, or for the organization she's in...it's not good enough to go forward saying you're independent," he said.

But the man with whom she fought over "the morality of politics" says COP's attitude is insulting. UNC Leader Basdeo Panday said, "Dookeran...insinuates that her entry with COP meant nothing. That's a tremendous insult to Gillian to say she's had no effect."

He said the party is not actively wooing Gillian or anybody for that matter. "People who want to join are free to apply to the UNC," he told the Guardian.

Panday suggested that Lucky's resignation is a symptom of a greater problem within the party. He said there is a mass defection from the ground level of COP, with former UNC members returning to their base, saying they were fooled by COP's propaganda.

Does that mean Panday is opening the door for Lucky to return as well?

The short and uncomplicated answer is YES. But Panday is not rolling out the welcome mat.

Panday has fought with many people in his four decades in politics and later embraced those who seemed for a while to be mortal enemies. Ramesh L. Maharaj and Kelvin Ramnath are perhaps the most prominent. But there are others, many others.

Panday even had major disagreements with Jack Warner, who remains today one of the most influential members of both the United National Congress (UNC), of which he is a deputy political leader, and the UNC-Alliance. He is also one of Panday's staunchest allies.

It was Warner who suggested this year that Lucky be nominated for President, an offer which she declined. He has not invited her to return to the party, saying she knows best.

He noted that he brought her into politics and despite their political differences "we remain good friends. UNC's door remains open to all," he said, echoing the "big tent" philosophy that made the party truly national in scope.

But he has a message for members of COP: "Intelligent persons should follow her example and end this farcical COP."

Gillian Lucky is a person who has strong convictions and these sometimes conflict with the kind of pragmatism that politics demands. Her fight with Panday and the UNC over the infamous "teacup" affair and her subsequent departure from the UNC is an example of that.

She was prepared to walk away from a party that she sincerely believed in on a matter of principle. Panday's assertion that "politics has a morality of its own" remains one of those quotes that will haunt him the way Eric Williams was haunted by his "money is no problem" comment. The context remains the important thing.

I know Lucky very well and have worked with her on two election campaigns. She is brilliant, dedicated and listens to advice from "unimportant" political communication advisers like me. We worked on various approaches to communicating her messages and although she required little coaching, together we made a good team.

I make this point because I sincerely believe that when she walked away from Panday and the UNC it was not over the "morality" issue. It was much more. She was not prepared to toe the line on Chandresh Sharma's asinine storm in a teacup over his fight with Keith Rowley. People insulted her professionalism. And she was right to walk away.

But she remains a warrior in the battle for justice and equality for everybody in Trinidad and Tobago. I suspect she is not returning to the UNC-A unless certain things change. I know certain people don't want her anywhere close to the party, while others, like Jack Warner, are ready to embrace her.

She shares the same concerns that the UNC-A espouses, and would be an asset if she decides to return.

My greatest disappointment would be if she decides to work with the present regime. She has served on government's crime commission and the People's National Movement (PNM) will no doubt want to court her.

But the Gillian Lucky I know will not fall for that basket.

She is a woman of the strongest moral character, she believes in fighting for the rights of little people and possesses a wealth of talent that Trinidad and Tobago absolutely needs at this, its darkest hour.