Basdeo Panday says PNM is dying, suggests T&T needs another political party

Basdeo Panday believes that Parliament should have allowed former Prime Minister Patrick Manning to have legal representation to defend himself before the Privileges Committee.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper the former leader of the United National Congress (UNC) said the government should not "hide" behind old laws.

“I would have thought that in this modern age, if someone is accused and charged for something, he should be permitted to put forward his best defence,” Panday told the paper.

“One can hang on to a lot of foolishness and archaic customs in order to deny someone the right to defend themselves," he added. Panday also agreed that there is need for constitutional reform. He said, "I don’t think anyone has laboured that point any more than I have done.”

Panday was commenting on the vote in Parliament last Friday when a majority of MPs denied Manning the right to have his lawyer question witnesses in his matter before the Privileges Committee of Parliament.


The matter has created a rift within the opposition party following a decision by three MPs to vote with Manning in what the party has said was a defiance of the official position to abstain in the vote.

Commenting on that, Panday suggested that the PNM is a dying party. “I think that it indicates that there is need for a third political force in T&T...The PNM looks as though it is dying a slow death," he said, adding that people are also dissatisfied with the governing People's Partnership.

He said the division in the PNM today is “open and blatant now”. Panday added that the split is so deep that the PNM is "prepared to come to Parliament and demonstrate it.”

He noted that what is happening in the PNM is very different from the divisions that existed in the UNC.

Panday told the Guardian, “There has never been division in a PNM Opposition and once that starts, it indicates that decay has set in...You can’t compare the two because the PNM was regarded as the solid party that does not divide. The UNC has always had differences of opinion.”

Panday said the PNM has always boasted about “its unity and its discipline and all kinds of things and that party has indicated that there is a big crack in the ranks and once that happens, the PNM will slowly die.”

He didn't offer an opinion on whether the dissenting MPs should be disciplined. However he said, “If you are the leader and there are people in the party who are flouting party rules and policies, then you take them before the caucus and let the party decide what kind of disciplinary action could be taken against them.”