Panday supports UNC youth; Jack cuts off $$

Basdeo Panday says the United National Congress (UNC) must give its youth a hearing, adding that the party's National Executive will consider the resolution passed by the UNC youth arm last weekend seeking to discipline MPs Jack Warner and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.

The resolution asks the executive to try to resolve the problems through dialogue but if that fails it should proceed to expel the two MPs for breach of the UNC constitution by discussing in public the party's internal matters.

Maharaj has stated that if he and Warner are guilty of that offence then so is Panday. For his part, Warner says the motion is illegal and suggested that the Youth Arm was manipulated by senior party members.

But St Augustine MP Vasant Bharath denied that. He told the Trinidad Express, "I can categorically state that no one prompted or pushed the youth arm to move this motion. It was independently made."

In a telephone interview with the Express from Scotland where he is visiting his daughter, Panday said, "The party should have regard to what the youths are saying and that is what we are going to do. The executive must decide where they will go from thereon."

The feud in the party is taking another turn, which could affect the UNC's finances. Jack Warner has been one of the financiers for a number of years and it is no secret that he has pumped millions of dollars into the last election campaign.

Now he is saying that will stop unless there is change within the UNC. "The UNC has to reform itself from within. It is senseless that I finance an institution unless it reforms. It will not succeed at a general election without change," Warner told the Express.

He added, "Times have changed and my resources are not what they used to be. Therefore, I have to be prudent and sensible with my resources."

But Panday appears to be unperturbed, saying the UNC doesn't depend on Warner's money. "Mr Warner is not a financier of the UNC. I cannot say who the other financiers of the party are, but Mr Warner is not a financier," he insisted.

But that's not what reliable party sources are saying.

Warner supported 11 constituency offices throughout the country during the 2007 election campaign with his own funds, paying for everything from office rent and supplies to utilities and staff salaries. he currently funds three offices: his own Chaguanas West constituency office and those in Arima and Barataria.

Warner has dismissed suggestions that he is fighting a losing battle against the UNC hierarchy. He told the Express, "More and more people from all walks of life here and abroad have told me that I am on the right track and they have given me hope. I may not be able to sway the national executive, but my focus is on the people, the membership. That is the bigger picture at the end of the day."