Fuad Khan wants to unite opposition through mediation

A former UNC MP who returned to the national political stage last week wants to help heal wounds and unite the opposition forces in Trinidad and Tobago.

Dr Fuad Khan, who represented San Juan/Barataria until the 2007 election, told the Trinidad Guardian he has learned from his own mistakes and wants to use that experience to help unite the opposition.

Khan returned to the Senate last week as a temporary UNC Senator just days after he helped open a Pandora's Box with accusations of racial discrimination at the Port of Spain General Hospital. He said he was the person who passed information to Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh about the problem.

Gopeesingh made a big fuss about it and demanded an inquiry over what he called "ethnic cleansing" at the hospital.

Khan has been a sort of Maverick politician even when he served as a UNC MP. He preferred to do things his own way and they seemed to work. But he broke with the UNC and sat as an independent close to the end of the last Parliament over a disagreement with the party over the tearoom incident involving UNC MP Chandresh Sharma and PNM MP Dr Keith Rowley.

He was not directly connected with the matter but when his colleague Gillian Lucky walked out on the UNC after refusing to sign a parliamentary report on the incident, Khan moved with her to become an independent.

Now he says he understands his grave errors and wants to make sure others don't make the same mistakes. "I’ve learned from my own behaviour in the past, and I’ve realised that I should have handled my situation differently. I don’t want my colleagues to make the same mistake I did", Khan told the paper.

"I'll be willing to sit with all of the leaders, and I have obtained the services of the head of the Dispute Resolution Centre in T&T to assist," he explained, saying he intends to approach the leaders to get mediation talks started before Parliament resumes next month.

He believes mediation can solve the problem, given the high tension among the key players. Khan said the PNM understands how to resolve its internal battles and it's time for the opposition to behave in like manner.

"No matter what internal issues they have, it is not brought out in public, and their estranged MPs never vote against their party in Parliament. Larry Achong didn’t, nor did Keith Rowley," he said.

Commenting on the leadership of the opposition, Khan suggested that any member has the right to seek leadership, including current leaders. He said that in such an open race the people would choose who is best capable of carrying out bthe party's agenda and winning an election.

"If people really want to move the unity process forward, they have to give up the old mindset that ‘Panday has to go.’ You can’t talk unity and say, leave out someone. Everyone’s input is necessary", Khan told the Guardian.

"If someone tells him (Panday) get out and leave the party to other people, that is totally undemocratic, authoritarian rule, and when those persons get into power, we can expect nothing but undemocratic practices from them.

“If they don’t like some members of the public when they get into office, they will do the same thing to them. So if people really have democratic public interests at heart, they will support having everyone contesting leadership and seeking public opinion."