Guest column: PP puts emphasis on coalition of interests - by Dr Hamid Ghany

As the People’s Partnership celebrated their first anniversary in government last week, they had managed to overcome the prediction that some had made that they would not be able to last that long. 

The address by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar highlighted the fact that the Government welcomed dissent and criticism from within its own ranks as a strength rather than as a weakness.

To this end, that line of argument suggested that the Government had its own built-in checks and balances and the potential for an opposition force to exist inside of the corridors of power was in place. 

This would of course have implications for the official Opposition as they would have to join the space already created by those in power who now had the capacity to criticise themselves. 

This political experiment that was created by the People’s Partnership on April 21, 2010, at Charlie King Junction in Fyzabad was cobbled together because of a different set of circumstances. A general election was not due until 2012, however, the former prime minister, Patrick Manning felt that one was necessary in 2010.

He announced at his party’s special convention on March 27, 2010, that he agreed with the opposition forces that there should be a general election and announced that screening in the PNM would begin on April 6 thereafter. The PNM was thrown into a full-scale election mode in the twinkling of an eye. The opposition forces had to respond immediately as Parliament was dissolved at midnight on April 8. 

None of the policy measures of the Manning administration leading up to all of this suggested that a general election would have been in the air. The 2009-10 budget that was presented in September 2009 did not resemble an election budget, the Property Tax and the Revenue Authority Bill were highly controversial and were really the kind of measures to be implemented at the mid-term of a government’s tenure and not on the eve of a general election.

All of this had to be defended on the PNM platform together with the allegations against Udecott and the church in the Heights of Guanapo. The PNM also had the Keith Rowley campaign that was operating inside of the official PNM campaign. 

The People’s Partnership capitalised on this split in the PNM and the negative publicity against the party to sweep into power. Their common goal was the removal of the PNM which they accomplished, but then came the task of governing. 

It has been something of a bumpy ride for the People’s Partnership during its first year in office as there has been some unfinished business in relation to getting all State boards appointed. The process has taken some time and therefore performance cannot be measured fully. 

Nevertheless, the glue that has held the Partnership together is the accommodative political behaviour of the leaders of the respective entities in the Partnership. If that accommodative behaviour dissipates, there will be problems for the Partnership.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar went to great lengths to emphasise that the Partnership is based on the philosophy of power-sharing and not on the philosophy of a single dominant, hegemonic party that will seek to capture power for itself alone.

That was a contrast against the PNM. At the moment, there is an issue within the PNM of the appearance of a two-leader phenomenon with the official political leader, Dr Keith Rowley, having to contend with the actions of the former political leader, Patrick Manning. 

This has helped the People’s Partnership in more recent times as the official opposition became divided in the Parliament on a vote on a motion brought by Manning and also in respect of Manning’s most recent political move which is his current walk from Port-of-Spain to San Fernando. Rowley has to decide whether he will join Manning’s walk or stay away.

The People’s Partnership operated on the basis of a proportional representation allocation of seats up front and responsibility was assigned to the various parties (UNC, COP, TOP) to handle the seats assigned to them in order to face down the PNM in one-on-one battles, rather than three-way battles. The strategy worked.

In government, the Partnership seemed to have moved from one crisis to another with apologies along the way for missteps. While this was a refreshing new approach to governing the country that diminished the level of arrogance that usually accompanied errors in the past, too many apologies could undermine the credibility of the Government. 

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has shown decisive leadership in the cases of Nizam Mohammed and Mary King which is to be contrasted with her faltering performance in the Reshmi Ramnarine affair that preceded these events. 

It appears that her next major act of leadership will be the much-anticipated “realignment” of Government portfolios that is on the horizon. Opposition MP, Colm Imbert gave the People’s Partnership a “C” grade for its performance after one year. If that can be used as a benchmark from the PNM, then perhaps the Government did not fail its first-year test.

The above column has been reproduced from the GUARDIAN newspaper with permission of the author.