Editorial: Challenging the UNC status quo

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the majority of the parliamentary caucus of the United National Congress (UNC) is supporting Basdeo Panday in his quest for the leadership of the party.

While the Panday camp will trumpet this a "stunning" development and a political coup, this endorsement is really the worst kept secret within the party and in the public domain.

All of them had said at one time or another that they would stick with the status quo and support Panday. One senator even said that it would be "disrespectful" to go against the chief.

It is, however, a master stroke by those running the campaign to capitalise on the agenda setting.

The motive is to grab the Sunday headlines and offer a hot political subject for the talk shows and commentators in the days ahead. The hope is to generate enough hype to call the election a done deal.

The next stage of the strategy would be Panday's triumphant return from London with "hordes" of loyal fans and supporters congregating at Piarco to welcome home the chief. In reality, many may not even be UNC financial members.

It's a good mass media strategy to try to launch a coup by dazzling the voter and obscuring the real issues in the Panday-mania all of this is expected to create. But in reality, as noted by both Jack Warner and Kamla Persad-Bissessar in their reaction to the announcement, nothing has really changed.

Both of them are pressing ahead with their respective campaigns, with Warner planning to publicly launch his in Felicity on January 6, 2010. Persad-Bissessar and Ramesh L. Maharaj are running against Panday for the leadership of the UNC and Warner is running for the post of chairman.

What is happening today is what Warner predicted when he launched the Movement for Change with Maharaj and Mayaro MP Winston "Gypsy" Peters.

At that time Persad-Bissessar was still a Panday loyalist, but she decided to challenge Panday because, as she says, he cannot take the party back into government. For Warner, this is just a manifestation of what is wrong with the UNC and what he has been clamouring to change - business as usual and blind loyalty to a leader who is out of touch with reality.

He is also concerned about the lack of people participation in the decision making process. "I wonder if any of the 10 Parliamentarians consulted with their Constituency Executive Committees so as to get their views before signing such a letter?" Warner asked.

Both he and Persad-Bissessar are saying they expected this kind of allegiance to Panday and are hoping the people will understand that now is the time to shake up the system and send a message to their party that it needs to pay attention to what they want and understand that it cannot be business as usual.

Persad-Bissessar, Maharaj, Warner and all who challenge Panday have a monumental task ahead that is perhaps as difficult as climbing a greasy pole. But so often the determined climber gets the ham. And that's what the challengers expect.

Persad-Bissessar is confident that she will defeat Panday. "I will win, which means the people win," she has said.

More than 35,000 UNC supporters will write the next chapter in the UNC's history with the marks they place on the ballot on January 24, 2010.

Those who support Panday are determined that he only can take the party back to Whitehall; those opposed say the exact opposite. When the votes are counted and the winners announced, the analysts and commentators will have their say, but the people will have to live with their decision.

One way or the other, the Rising Sun will shine after January 24. But the lingering question is whether it will comfort an entire nation that is crying for leadership, representation and an end to the Manning regime.