Seepersad-Bachan is one of six COP members who won election in the May 24 general election as part of the PP and holds the energy portfolio in the cabinet.
During campaign meetings for Sunday's executive elections, some high ranking COP members have suggested that the party has been sidelined. COP deputy leader Wendy Lee Yuen has joined a chorus of her party members who have claimed that the most competent people have not been selected for state boards.
Lee Yuen and some top members running for posts in Sunday's election also believe that the party has been treated unfairly in other issues as well and have been vocal about it on campaign platforms, calling for "equity and fairness" in the partnership.
The six elected COP members all have cabinet posts, with the party leader, Winston Dookeran, holding the Finance portfolio; deputy leader Prakash Ramadhar is Minister of legal Affairs; Anil Roberts is Minister of Sports and two others - Roger Samuel and Lincoln Douglas - hold junior ministerial positions.
The President of the Senate, Timothy Hamel-Smith, is a top member of COP.
Seepersad-Bachan told the Trinidad Guardian she does not share the view of her colleagues and the concerns they have expressed. “I don’t agree this is about people from UNC or COP or parties per se. To talk about it being unfair seems childish," she told the paper.
“State board appointments involve having the right competence for the job and we’d said so regarding our new politics thrust," she explained. “We said we’d avoid square pegs in round holes because the PNM had that before," she added.
She suggested that having criticised the PNM for its style of governance COP should consider the facts carefully.
“It is about putting competent people in place because there is a lot of work to do to move state enterprises forward...hey are underperforming so we need to put the right people in place," she said.
The energy minister said "you can’t look at this in terms of political colour. You look at how people can perform and you have to put professional competence in place to take the right decisions in the complex issues facing boards.”
Seepersad-Bachan said she stands by the cabinet’s action in keeping with the principle of collective responsibility.
Lee Yuen told the Guardian. “My concern is not so much what party appointees come from, it is whether we are getting too many square pegs in round holes as took place with the PNM and at the moment I am not seeing the most competent people being selected. As partners we have to be concerned. We need mutual respect and consultation,” she said.
The COP deputy leader was emphatic that COP was sidelined, adding that there is no "satisfactory" mechanism for consultation within the partnership.
She suggested a monthly statutory meeting "to sit, talk about the national issues and discuss how you go forward" declaring that it is important "to be inclusive.”
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