Warner becomes walking target after vote with PNM

Jack Warner has put himself in the line of fire from his opposition colleagues by voting with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to pass a bill that required a special majority. Warner gave the PNM the single vote it needed and the bill passed.

While it is true that the opposition did not have a real problem with the legislation and even said it was a good bill, that is not of any significance in this political game.

What is important is that those who had been gunning for Warner now have him right where they want him. And they are not going to let up without trying to finish the job.

The immediate reaction from his leader was as harsh as it was predictable.

Basdeo Panday was so incensed at the behaviour of his Chaguanas West MP that he suggested sending in a team to look after the interests of Warner's constituents. And Warner's possible expulsion is on the agenda when the caucus and national executive meet on Wednesday.

Warner's vote in Parliament last Fiday also gave Panday what he said is the clear evidence that Warner is in league with the People's National Movement (PNM).

The UNC leader had been pressing that point ever since Warner and Prime Minister Patrick Manning met at the prime minister's official residence at the request of Manning.

It was a social visit at which Manning casually asked the FIFA vice president about sports and his life in politics, and gave him a tour of the palatial residence.

Since then Panday has insisted that something was sinister about it and that Warner had some serious explaining to do. For his part Warner has said it was much ado about nothing. He has sent a written report to UNC General Secretary Fazal Karim, which he released to the news media.

Panday is on record as saying he has not seen that report and officials at the UNC Rienzi headquarters claim they don't have it on file.

But since that fateful event Panday has take every available opportunity to try to paint Warner into a corner as an agent of the PNM whose assignment is to destroy the UNC. Now Panday intends to make that story gain currency as he goes for the jugular.

The critical vote that Warner cast for the PNM has made the Chaguanas West MP a walking target. That's the smoking gun that Panday will take to caucus to seek Warner's expulsion.

It doesn't matter that Warner has a good explanation for why he voted with the PNM. They needed a single vote to pass a bill that his opposition colleagues had generally supported, so he provided that vote.

What is instructive is that opposition members not only called the bill a good one and were supportive of it, they refused to vote against it, choosing instead to abstain.

There's a word for that; it's called hypocrisy.

But in the rough and tumble of politics detail is of no value, facts are victims of political circumstance and reality is in perception.

So if you ask the average Trini she/her will likely see what Warner did as wrong. That's the case Panday has already presented to the people. It doesn't matter what the bill was about or whether it was a good measure. What is clear is that another neemakharam must go. Just like so many others who have dared to challenge Panday over the past four decades.

Politics - certainly Trinidad and Tobago politics - is about gaining points and the people, unfortunately have no time for facts and analysis.

In the bacchanal society that is Trinidad and Tobago a good scandal takes precedence over any logical move. Panday himself has suffered from that mentality when his own people turned against him "for not doing enough for we" while ignoring the fact that as Prime Minister the "we" Panday represented was no longer the UNC constituency but the entire nation - every citizen; every man, woman and child.

Warner has promised to attend Wednesday's caucus where Panday is likely to push for action against him as punishment for straying from the party line last Friday.

Panday has already told the media he will move for Warner's expulsion.

What happens next?

Warner has served notice that he won't roll over and die. And he has this to say to supporters in Rio Claro.

"I can stand here tonight and speak of the ingratitude of Mr. Panday, but I won’t do that...My only advice to Mr. Panday is a promise that if he stops telling lies about me I will stop speaking the truth about him."

The little black boy who walked miles to school everyday and defeated all challenges to rise to play a major role on the international stage is about to take on the biggest challenge of his life in his own backyard, in his own political family.

Watch your back, Jack!