Jack says Ramesh must drop out of UNC election

Jack Warner has a message for his former Ramjack colleague, Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj - drop out of the UNC leadership race.

The Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner told the Trinidad Express, "If Mr Maharaj loves this country and wants to change all we have fought for, if Mr Maharaj wants to ensure that the PNM is removed, he will drop out and support Kamla".

Warner, who is running an independent campaign, has said on several occasions that Sipraia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the only leader who can unite the opposition and lead the party to win an election.

He said if Maharaj heeds the call, "He will change the status quo and he will make sure the UNC can breathe again."

He and Maharaj fought as part of the Movement for Change to force the election but they have not spoken for the past few months because of the leadership issue. In his campaign so far, Maharaj has attacked Persad-Bissessar, saying she doesn't have a track record as a warrior.

But in a response to that she has said a leader must know when to stop fighting and start talking. Her position is that the consensus today both at the national level and within the UNC's membership is that the incumbent leader cannot win another election.

Warner doesn't think Maharaj should have ever entered the race. He admits that Maharaj has a good track record as a crime buster and a fighter but he doesn't think that the country and the party would forgive him.

Maharaj is the person who caused the fall of the UNC government within months of winning a majority in the 2000 general election and UNC members have never forgiven him for it.

While his campaign is attacking Persad-Bissessar, Maharaj is shifting his focus closer to Panday. In a weekend statement he described himself and Panday as the only strong leaders in the party, while trying to knock down the Siparia MP.

That alignment is confusing Warner. "I’m surprised that Mr Maharaj is talking about ’Bas and I, and Mr Panday and I’ because it was Mr Panday who has Mr Maharaj in the negative light that he is in today," he said.

Warner said during the past year when Maharaj was part of the pariah Ramjack team Maharaj never expressed any interest in wanting the leadership of the UNC so he said he was quite surprised when Maharaj announced his candidacy.

He stressed that he and Maharaj are still friends. However, he said he just doesn't understand Maharaj's position.

He said he has heard people say that Maharaj's purpose is only to try to make Persad-Bissessar lose. "If it’s true, it’s unfortunate," he added.

But he said he is very confident that nothing could stop the momentum for Persad-Bisseassar and predicted a landslide for her.

"There is a tsunami of change out there that nothing they can do will stop Kamla Persad-Bissessar from winning," Warner said.

And he is equally confident that he will be the party's next chairman. "If the elections are fair and I don’t win I will ride out into the sunset and go fish. If it’s not fair, then I intend to fight it to the end," he said.