Chairmen of People's Partnership parties to meet Monday

The five members of the People's Partnership are expected to meet Monday for face to face discussions about concerns relating to the government.

The chairman of the Congress of the People (COP) Joseph Toney on Sunday told reporters about the planned meeting following COP's national council meeting in Chaguanas.  

Toney said chairmen of all five members of the partnership have agreed to meet. Government senator and prominent trade unionist David Abdullah will chair the meeting. Abdullah is a member of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), one of the members of the coalition.

The partnership's members are the United National Congress (UNC), COP, the MSJ, the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) and the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC).

The meeting at the Port- of-Spain office of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union, will be chaired by government senator David Abdulah, starting at three in the afternoon.

UNC Chairman Jack Warner recently wrote Toney asking for a meeting to discuss issues which have been raised publicly, mainly by COP.

Toney told reporters, “We are going to sit and talk and chart a way forward, so that members of the PP can have a say and can have direct link with the policymakers of the country.” He said because of that development there is no need for him to have a one-on-one meeting with Warner.

Toney said he agrees with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar that the differences between the UNC and COP are not a threat to the stability of the Government.

“There will be disagreements but I believe in dialogue, who believe in talking out matters and the members of the partnership are listening,” he said, adding that he is optimistic that Monday's meeting will ensure that the units that make up the PP "feel all inclusive, that they have a role and a function to play in the direction of any policy initiative of the Government.”

Toney said COP remains a committed member of the partnership "and we shall and will continue in the PP.”

Toney also dismissed as a "national joke" the Sunday Express report that claimed that Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Roberts is seeking to unseat Finance Minister Winston Dookeran as political leader of the COP.