Jack Warner vows to go to the people with message of change

Jack Warner issued a statement Monday stating that the real intent of the UNC’s retreat was not to resolve internal party issues but to advance Basdeo Panday's agenda for dealing with Jack Warner, Ramesh Maharaj and Winston “Gypsy” Peters.

"The retreat resolved among other things to put these members before the Disciplinary Committee. It also failed to look into the whole issue of internal elections for which we have been consistently calling", the Chaguanas West MP said in a news release. Warner is out of the country and did not attend Sunday's retreat.

"It is informative to note that according to the Party's constitution, any member who is before the Disciplinary Committee cannot put his name up for election. So Warner, Maharaj and Peters will be ineligible for any election the Party eventually calls", he noted.

He said it is ironic that the National Executive (Natex) whose own "legitimacy must be called into question given that their term of office has long-expired, will seek now to use the very regulations of the Party's constitution which they have flouted to retain their positions."

He lamented the fact that instead of preparing itself for a snap general election the UNC preoccupies itself with "finding treacherous ways of getting rid of its members who dare to call for change and internal elections which are overdue by several years".

Warner added, "Here is a Party that refuses to acknowledge that the COP garnered 148,000 votes thereby dictating the urgent need for a serious political accommodation.

"Here is a Party that is mired in the past that refuses to deal with the present so as to be ready for the future. Instead the Political Leader's version is to buy a political party hopper from the COP with a senatorial appointment that replaces NAR leader Dr Carlson Charles from the Alliance faction and refer to it as a unity move."

He said it is a shame that while all of this is going on the UNC fails to address the critical issues of the day facing the nation under Patrick Manning.

"My colleagues and I are more committed than ever to take our message of change to the membership of the Party. The UNC National Executive Committee had asked us to refrain from holding public meetings and give the Retreat a chance to resolve the issues of the day.

"Well all that is now behind us. Our efforts to broadcast the message of change, political accommodation and free, fair internal elections so long overdue will be intensified and I am therefore returning to Trinidad & Tobago later this week more committed than ever," he said.