There are no surprises in the United National Congress (UNC) so far with regard to nomination of candidates for the general election.The party has confirmed the persons who will fight in six constituencies:
- Kamla Persad-Bissessar - Siparia
- Jack Warner - Chaguanas West
- Roodal Moonilal - Oropouche East
- Winston ’Gypsy’ Peters Mayaro
- Dr Fuad Khan - Barataria/San Juan
- Clifton DeCoteau
The other four are the incumbents in Caroni East, Cumuto/Manzanilla, Fyzabad and Naparima.
Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Harry Partap, Chandresh Sharma and Nizam Baksh are facing competition from new nominees.
Gopeesingh has been challenged by a businessman who insists that now is then time for change. In Naparima Baksh is facing two challengers; Sharma and Partap are also being challenged by candidates who are demanding change.
The party has suspended screenings for Wednesday for the second meeting in its election campaign. The meeting is in Rio Claro for a mass public meeting.
On Thursday some of the other UNC incumbents will face the screening committee - Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj (Tabaquite) Subhas Panday (Princes Town North) and Mickela Panday (Oropouche East).
Newcomer Lyndira Oudit wants to run in Couva South and Suruj Rambachan is seeking the nomination for Couva North, the seat that former UNC leader Basdeo Panday, who has held the seat since 1976.
Rambachan is facing a strong challenge from former journalist and political activist Sunil Ramjitsingh, who has headed a surrogate constituency office in Couva North and is popular among constituents.
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Little Boys and Girls as MPs caused PNM to collapse
'...I do not believe he slept well, for I fancied I heard him in the middle of the night, moving around his library, and in the morning I found a copy of Aristotle's' Nicomachean Ethics half unrolled on his desk. But politicians are resilient creatures..." Tiro Tullius- private secretary of Cicero and the inventor of shorthand.
The government of Patrick Manning collapsed recently. It was expected since May 2008 when former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj moved a Vote of No-Confidence in the Prime Minister.The Prime Minister with an inexperienced team was unable to withstand the motion and he immediately bussed-in a crowd to Woodford Square to buttress his support. Despite the allegations of corruption, the Prime Minister ought to have been able to govern until 2012, after all, he's been in the parliament for 39 years and has been in government for many years - more than anyone in the parliament.
The Prime Minister despite all this experience was unable to govern because his team of elected MPs were "little boys and girls."
The Opposition on the other hand was comprised of a cadre of MPs with tremendous experience both in government and in Opposition. Almost two thirds of the Opposition MPs are leaders in their own right. Despite the feuding in the Opposition for a year, the Opposition survived and the government was brought to it's knees starting with the May 2008 No Confidence Motion and the setting-up of the Uff Commission of Enquiry into UDECOTT.
The singular lesson to be learnt from all of this is : Parliament is not for boys and girls. The crafting and amending of legislation and turning debates on points of order requires men of considerable common sense, legal prowess and political acumen. But despite all of this it is character which will define a politician and mark him above all others. We have had too many "moo moos" in the past. Conduct in the parliament is different to conduct on the campaign platform. It is the arena where your conduct must be punctilious and at more often circumspect. Many have interpreted Basdeo Panday's cavalier approach as a template for parliamentary behaviour. We are all wrong ! Parliamentary debate is different from campaign rhetoric.
The UNC and in particular it's Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar needs to get it right NOW ! The one marker that they can use is the recent UWI Guild elections where Khadijah Ameen contested the post of Guild President and lost by 1000 votes. This is a RED FLAG since the UWI Guild has often been comprised of youth of the UNC. Some of the people associated with the UWI Guild have even left office in disgrace owing to matters of impropriety yet we see some of these same people in the media and presenting themselves in front of their friends for screening. Nothing is cast in stone until Nomination Day. Word from PNM friends is that after Maharaj's meeting at Tabaquite and his endorsement by Kelvin Ramnath, high profile members of the PNM have been lobbying to the Prime Minister to have Keith Rowley on the ticket. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
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