Panday says UNC will consider holding internal election

The Rienzi Complex was the scene of some high political drama Wednesday that ended with the cancellation of the weekly caucus meeting of the United National Congress (UNC).

The tension began when caucus members refused to sit with their colleagues Winston Peters and Jack Warner, saying they were no longer comfortable discussing important party matters in their presence. The caucus was cancelled for lack of a quorum.

UNC leader Basdeo Panday told reporters afterwards Panday, "Members of the caucus began to express the feeling that they could no longer sit and express freely, matters of grave importance to the party and the country" in the presence of members who are "undermining the party from day to day in public."

Three MPs - Warner, Peters and Ramesh L. Maharaj - are no longer welcome in the UNC caucus because of their movement for change that demands internal elections and the modernizing of the party.

The drama inside the party headquarters coincided with the launch of Warner's "Caravan for Change", an information blitz aimed at covering all 41 constituencies in one week to update UNC members and other citizens on why they are seeking change.

On Wednesday Panday addressed one of their concerns but was not optimistic that it would end the bickering, which he claims is part of a conspiracy with the PNM to "mash up" the UNC.

Panday told the media the UNC executive has agreed to convene a party congress to determine whether the UNC should reverse the executive's decision and hold the internal election before the Local Government Elections, which the government wants to postpone for another year.

That measure has already passed in the House of Representatives and is likely to pass in the Senate as well, although Independent senators are not happy with it and most have indicated that they won't vote for it. However it just needs to the support of one independent to pass.

Panday acknowledged that Warner and his colleagues want the internal election now but suggested that even if the party goes ahead with the vote it won't be enough to end the bickering and bring peace to the UNC.

He stressed that they want him removed as leader so they could steal the UNC based and suggested that even if the membership re-elects him leader, the dissident MPs would look find another problem.

Commenting on the "Caravan for Change", he said it is irrelevant and of no consequence. "When people have to resort to that level in order to take over a party, all I can say is those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad."

Related column: Warner launches Caravan for Change