Kamla shocked; Ramesh calls move lawful

Kamla Persad-Bissessar has called the decision of the United National Congress (UNC) to reject 16,000 applications for membership "shocking and unprecedented".

In a statement to the media the UNC leadership candidate said she finds it
"shocking that our party would reject 16,000 membership applications on the basis of not having time to complete the verification process on time."

She said she found it difficult to understand especially since a committee dedicated to membership matters had been working on scrutinising and approving applications long before the close of the application deadline of December 18.

"If it is true that the intention is to rely on the existing list of members, then it would mean that the membership committee has done no work whatsoever because that list was available as at the 29th November 2001 when our last National Assembly was held," she said.

"What is also alarming about this is that the chairman of the membership committee had given the assurance that the process would be completed in time for the vote," she said.

She added, "I am also deeply concerned about this because it denies citizens the legitimate right to join a party of their choice."

She said while a party reserves the right to reject a membership application, it is unprecedented that all new applications would be tossed out. "This goes against the UNC’s basic principle of embracing all. I call upon them to reconsider this unprecedented decision ," she said.

However, Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj supported the party's decision, calling the move lawful.

"It is in accordance with the law, with the constitution of the UNC and with constitutional principles generally. If any other decision were to be made, the election process would be flawed. The PNM, or the COP then could put 10,000 applicants and control who could be political leader," he said.

He explained that there was never a guarantee given to anyone "when the elections were called, that if you apply for membership you would automatically be accepted...

"If for example you have 18,000 applicants and those are persons who should not become members of the party, because they belong to another party, and you admit them without proper enquiry, the whole election process would be flawed."

Maharaj said the decision means that bona fide members of the UNC at the time the internal election was called would be entitled to vote.

Chaguanas West MP jack Warner said he has not been officially advised of the decision, but pledged to challenge it because he considers it illegal.

“If Panday disfranchised all the voters and left only ten, he will still lose," Warner said.