Ramesh L. Maharaj's comprehensive document for change presented to Sunday's United national Congress (UNC) retreat in Chaguanas, argued that the party cannot have change in the government unless it initiates changes within the party. And he said he firmly believes that there would be a general election before the end of the year and that makes the message of change critically important.Maharaj reminded the party that the membership is the power base of the Party and "we all act as trustees of that power."
He was emphatic that if a general election is called at this time the UNC would be unable to win and predicted that it would even lose some of the seats it currently holds in Parliament, giving Patrick Manning and the People's National Movement (PNM) a constitutional majority.
Such a development, he said, would allow Manning "to enact his new dictatorial Constitution. This new Constitution would institutionalise dictatorial rule in our Country and would give control to Mr. Manning of the Public Service, the Police Service, the Armed Forces, the power of prosecution and the Judiciary."
Maharaj pointed to the result of the Nov. 5, 2007 General Election in which the party lost 100,000 of the votes it had secured in the election five years earlier, with all of it going to the new Congress of the People (COP), led by Winston Dookeran, a man who abdicated the leadership of the UNC in favour of forming a new party with a message of change and "new politics".
He observed that diehard suppoirters voted against the UNC Alliance because they believed they were voting for change.
"Unless the Party grapples with the reasons for diehard supporters not being enthusiastic to work for and to support the Party and it takes “redress action”, the Party would not win a General Election and may not even win the Opposition," Maharaj predicted.
He told the retreat that since the 2007 election the decline in support has accelerated and that the party currently cannot attract support from non-committed voters and the powerful youth constituency.
"Persons who are now 14 years and over would be eligible to vote in the next General Elections (if it is not called prematurely). There is no strategy or policy to attract these potential voters. The lack of motivation of the base of the Party to support the Party has been demonstrated in the attendance at the Monday Nights Meetings...At the ground level of the Party there are strong feelings against the present strategy and direction of the Party", Maharaj said, adding that "those at the leadership level of the Party are alienated from the pulse and feelings of the rank and file of the membership of the Party."
He said there is a total disconnect with the members. "These strong feelings at the ground level against the present strategy and direction of the Party is also reflected in the non-functioning of all the organs and the institutions of the Party," he observed.
He noted the need for party elections, which were last held in 2005 and are now overdue since the UNC Constitution says the national executive has a two-year term and the political leader's term is three years.
He argued that the executive no longer represents the membership of the Party and it has "no real legal or moral authority to continue to speak for the membership of the Party".
He said it is not acceptable that the executive has postponed the internal election until after the local government vote. "If we are aiming to get into Government we must show respect for the values and principles of democracy - we must mirror to the Nation how we would behave in Government," he said.
"The Constitution of the Party is therefore broken when the National Executive purports to make decisions on behalf of the membership of the Party and when the National Congress purports to exercise powers under the Constitution of the Party. This continues to bring the Party into hatred, contempt and ridicule."
Maharaj said the UNC must be in a position to win a General Election, if it is called at any time this year, and must therefore acknowledge the need for immediate change. He suggested that the party should hold the next internal election no later than August, 2009 and that the vote be conducted "by a fair and independent machinery and with procedures and processes to generate public confidence in the results."
He also suggested that the party should convene a mass meeting of the membership and supporters at which the leadership must encourage free and frank discussions about the party and what they believe ought to be done in order for the party to win the next general election. Their views, he insisted, must be collated and seriously considered since they are the ones who will vote - or not vote - for the UNC.
He suggested that Jack Warner, as the Deputy Political Leader responsible for administration, should present proposals for the better administration of the party and its projects including the holding by it of its internal elections.
The Tabaquite MP took issue with the exclusion of members from the UNC congress in March and insisted that if the party wants to form the government it has an obligation "to vacate the decisions of the National Congress held on Sunday 22nd March, 2009" since the exclusion of members and supporters contravenes Article 2 (8) of the UNC constitution, which requires the party to promote “Active citizen involvement at all levels of decision making as the foundation for a participatory democracy”.
Maharaj told the retreat the party can sideline the message of change and it can dilute it to its own peril. He noted that change includes unity of the opposition parties, which is tied to the holding of internal elections.
"We must remember that if we aim to run a government upholding the principles of democracy we cannot administer the Party in an undemocratic fashion and contravene the principles of openness, transparency and accountability in respect of Party affairs", he declared.
"If we do that we would lack legitimacy or moral authority to condemn the Government in respect of its violations of these principles. The population would not see us as being committed to effect change that it could believe in, but it would instead see us as a mere exchange," he concluded.
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