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He said former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday led that group. Panday was one of the NAR leaders and was Foreign Minister in the Robinson government. But both men fell out over policy and other critical issues.
Panday and his followers eventually formed CLUB 88 - the Caucus of Love, Unity and Brotherhood, which was the forerunner to the United National Congress (UNC), which was launched in 1989. Panday eventually mended fences with Robinson and with his help formed the government in 1995.
Their relationship was never good and Panday eventually removed Robinson from his cabinet and appointed him President. Robinson finally had his revenge in 2001 when he fired Panday and appointed Patrick Manning as prime minister following the 18-18 tie in the general election.
Robinson told the commission that even when Panday was a member of the NAR government he went about the country attacking him and his method of governance.
“I had information that even in my absence when I was abroad he would use the occasion to attack me in the country. It appeared that the purpose was to bring down the Government,” the former prime minister said.
Robinson also charged that Panday joined Patrick Manning, who was at the time leader of the opposition, in mobilising support to frustrate the Government.
Robinson said at the time of the coup attempt the Government was debating the Anti-Corruption Bill as part of an anti-corruption campaign to expose corrupt activities of the previous PNM regime.
Former PNM Attorney General Selwyn Richardson, who was eventually murdered, had joined NAR and was a cabinet minister at the time and was known for his involvement in the campaign, Robinson said. He added that when the Muslimeen entered the red House they were looking for him and Richardson.
He also confirmed to the enquiry that he and Panday had disagreements because the members of Panday's United Labour objected to how he conducted the government's affairs.
Panday had dissolved the ULF to join NAR, the new unitary party. Unlike the present People's Partnership arrangement, the Robinson government was not a coalition.
Robinson said the Works and Transport Minister at the time, John Humphrey, broke the cabinet rules and awarded contracts without proper oversight. “I had to expel him from the Cabinet," he said. "I didn’t know at the time that the Humphrey family and the Panday family were friends."
Robinson added, "The Panday faction continued their course of disregard for Cabinet decisions. They said they were in charge of their own ministries and no one, including the prime minister, should interfere. They refused to accept the principles of Cabinet governance. I asked the entire Cabinet to resign.”
Robinson said he offered them new appointments hoping they would refuse and that would be the easy way of getting them out of the way. However he said they accepted the appointments and continued what he said was "their disruptive conduct".
Commission counsel Avery Sinanan asked Robinson if he knew about the insurrection, pointing out that there was talk about a planned uprising. He said, “It was never brought to my notice that there was either knowledge or a fear that an insurrection would take place."
Panday reacted to Robinson's charges by saying, “Everybody has a little axe to grind in the country these days.” He told the Trinidad Guardian the claims were unfounded, noting that in the early days of the NAR regime, he acted for Robinson when the prime minister was out of the country.
Humphrey admitted that he awarded one contract in defiance of the existing rules. It was for dredging the Diego Martin river that had been causing flooding. “It was an urgent situation and I did not have the time to go through the normal procedure,” Humphrey told the paper.
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