COP ready for election NOW

Winston Dookeran raised the Congress of the People (COP) flag in Port of Spain Saturday as he opened the party's office with a promise to reach out to all the people and find "common ground on higher ground".

And he declared that the party is ready for an election now.

"If we have a snap election, we shall have a snap response that brings victory to the people. We shall make no mistake in bringing home victory this time around...we are ready for any elections NOW."

He said COP is growing and there is no power that will stop it.

Dookeran also promised to defend the nation's democracy from the threat posed by Patrick Manning’s draft constitution. And he pledged to reach out to leaders of other political movements, including the UNC and NJAC, to find a formula that will preserve the nation's constitutional integrity.

"We shall take the dialogue...beyond the political parties into civil society into the cities, towns and villages," he said.

Dookeran said there is a restlessness in today's politics because the country's leaders have severely violated the principles of good governance and the quest for unity in diversity.

He said politics must promote harmony and urged followers not to fear the future but to help shape it.

The COP leader said Trinidad and Tobago is a divided nation because politicians have kept it that way. However he said there is hope because people are rejecting that and embracing unity.

He spoke of the need to keep that in focus to ensure that "the child born in Beetham or in Monkey Town, Barrackpore must have an equal chance to the good life free from the persistent cycles of poverty to which these, our children are now condemned."

The new office, christened Flagship House, will facilitate dialogue aimed at providing the nation with a new choice and creating a political movement based on equality and fairness, he said.

"The quest for good governance is our mission," he said. "Flagship House is about the courage to change."

Dookeran said COP embraces the challenge to lift the nation to new heights and move all the people to freedom.

"We cannot continue to have our life itself at risk on a daily basis. We cannot be trapped with a constitution that concentrates power at the centre at the expense of the will of the people," he said.

"We must reject government without accountability to the will of the people," Dookeran said.

"Your presence here today," he told his audience, "strengthens my courage and faith that we can put this country on the right track again."

He added, "As a country boy, born in village of Rio Claro, it is with the deepest of pride and humility that I stand to raise the flag, on your behalf for the newest political party in our country, the Congress of the People."