Commentary: David taking Rowley's basket, showing political opportunism

File: David Abdulah as part of the People's Partnership

What did I tell you?

Last week I said David Abdulah would say that he didn't join the PNM march last Tuesday because he is a PNM supporter. And he did. He said, as I predicted, that it was to demonstrate against what is wrong in the country.

You may recall that in commentaries as far back as May, I was saying that Abdulah and his friends in the labour movement were moving in the direction of the PNM and that their agenda is really to try to mash up the People's Partnership and cause the downfall of Kamla and her government.

Now we have the evidence. Keith Rowley wants to meet with Abdulah and a few other people whom Rowley considers the country's "responsible leaders". 

If the media reports are accurate, Rowley wrote to Abdulah last Thursday, two days after he and Abdulah marched together, asking the leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) to attend a meeting to discuss the current issues.

"I am confident that when all is said and done our deliberations could prove to be useful in helping each other to better discharge our obligations to those whom we undertake to serve," Rowley said in the letter.

The reports said Abdulah confirmed that he got the letter and also confirmed that he would meet with Rowley. "I am prepared to meet with him," the Express newspaper quoted Abdulah as saying.

Nothing is wrong with that. This is a free country and freedom of association and freedom to join a political party and enshrined in our constitution. What is wrong is the hypocrisy and Abdulah's chameleon-like behaviour. 

Just look at his movements and pronouncements over the past several months. First he was standing with Kamla and the government and praising the People's Partnership. Then, at the urging of Ancel Roget he jumped ship and walked out of the government.

He pledged to keep his MSJ independent and to represent the interest of labour but immediately joined Wayne Kublalsingh's phony prayer meetings to protest about something in which he had no interest and that he knew nothing about. But it suited his interest because Kublalsingh's target was Kamla and the government.

All this was happening without consulting the membership of his party, assuming there is a membership. And then last Tuesday, without consultation again, he decided to walk with Rowley and the PNM against the Kamla government in an anti-government march.

But he is still not taking off the mask. "I am willing to meet with him (Rowley) and anyone else who is willing to fix the issues," he said. 

But wait a minute. Wasn't he part of the government that HE said was the best ever and would fix the country's problems? Didn't he campaign with Kamla when Rowley was trying to bring her down in a confidence vote. 

Yes. This is the same David Abdulah who had the best opportunity to work with a progressive government and help determine state policy to help the working class. He was already in the company of a government that was willing and able to "fix the issues" but he ran away because he had a different agenda that had nothing to do with workers or the working class.

The trouble was that as general secretary of the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) he had to dance according to the music the band was playing there. And the conductor of the orchestra was the OWTU's boss, a man named Ancel Roget, who had vowed to do everything he could to bring down the PP government. And that's the real story. Abdulah would do anything to try to topple the government, so talking with Rowley, even joining the PNM, must be seen in that context.

With a track record like that, can you believe anything this man says? Can you trust him to represent you? 

Do you recall his campaign against the Manning PNM government? And now he is ready to cuddle with the same PNM that Rowley himself denounced as the most corrupt government ever.

Of course, he's insisting that his meeting with the Opposition leader and leader of the PNM does not signal any political alliance with the party. "That is really and truly not on the horizon at this time," he said.

If you believe that, just wait! Santa Claus will also be coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve.

Rowley is playing a losing political hand with people like Abdulah, Roget and other Kamla haters. Rowley knows that he and the PNM are holding the wrong cards so Rowley decided to draw from the pack. But adding jokers won't help him win, because the PP is holding a winning hand with the right queen and two important jacks. 

Jai Parasram | 23 September 2012