The opposition United National Congress (UNC) on Thursday made good on its threat to take charge of three constituencies currently held by Jack Warner, Ramesh L. Maharaj and Winston "Gypsy" Peters.UNC leader Basdeo Panday accused the three last week of abandoning their seats by voting with the People's National Movement. Panday said Warner and the two others are agents of the PNM and cannot be trusted to look after the interests of the people in their respective constituencies.
On Thursday Panday announced that he has appointed himself as the “surrogate father” of the Warner's Chaguanas West constituency. Panday's Couva North constituency borders Chaguanas West.
Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath will take charge of Maharaj's Tabaquite constituency, which borders his own Couva South seat and Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Harry Partap be the "caretaker"for neighbouring Mayaro, currently held by Peters.
Panday said UNC councillors in each of the constituencies will help the MPs.
Warner has dismissed the "caretaker" move and had indicated that if Panday does it he would counter by doing the same for the constituencies now held by the three Pandays.
Panday also announced that a national congress will be held on September 13 to be followed on October 25 with the UNC’s national assembly. Those gatherings will set the stage for the next stage in the political feud between Panday and the dissident group of three lead by Warner.
The national assembly with deal with the issue of expulsion after it receives reports from a disciplinary committee on each of the three MPs. It is expected that the party would also announce a date for its long-overdue internal election.
It is the demand for that vote that ignited the dissident flame and the development of the wide rift between Warner and Panday, who fought the 2007 general election as equal partners and joint leaders of the the UNC Alliance (UNC-A).
The party had insisted on holding its election after the Local Government Elections (LGE) but with the postponement of that vote for another year, Panday has indicated that the vote could be held soon.
That should be good news for Warner and help heal wounds. But Warner has said Panday is plotting to discipline or expel him so he won't be eligible to run for office in the party. Warner is currently one of three UNC deputy leaders. The others are Senator Wade mark and Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Warner, Maharaj and Peters did not attend Thursday's meeting.
Warner left Trinidad Thursday night for the United States for a private meeting Monday with U.S. president Barack Obama. Warner is meeting Obama in his capacity as FIFA vice chairman, but it is likely that the two men will also discuss Trinidad and Tobago's national issues.
1 comment:
The 'surrogate father' of the constituency eh? I don't like the sound of that. Parliament is comprised of people who are elected, and those people form parties based on common ideas. The RAMJACK trio are the legal MPs, and it is not as if they left the UNC - they were booted out.
Trinidad is too important for nonsense like this obsession with iron clad control and party discipline. Parties are the ruin of democracy! Elect individuals and let them freely associate, you might be surprised at the results.
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