Robinson ran government in a dictatorial manner: Hosein

File photo: Robinson and Panday at a national awards function when Panday was PM and Robinson was President of T&T

The man who served as health minister in the Robinson National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government said Friday his prime minister, A.N.R. Robinson, had a dictatorial style.

Emmanuel Hosein made the statement when he appeared before the commission investigating the failed July 1990 Muslimeen coup. Hosein was one of the hostages in the Red House, along with Robinson, who was shot and tortured by the Muslimeen insurrectionists.

Hosein told commissioners Robinson exercised a dictatorial style of authority. He offered the comment when asked for his views on the expulsion of the United labour Front (ULF) faction, led by Basdeo Panday, from the NAR.

Hosein was a ULF member who agreed with Panday to dissolve the party to form a unitary party to contest the general election of 1986 in which the NAR swept the PNM out of office, winning 33 of the 36 seats in Parliament. Panday had handed the leadership of the new party to Robinson.

“We were taken aback by Robinson’s style of governance," Hosein said. “He exercised authority in a way the Constitution allowed…The Constitution created prime ministerial dictatorship,” he added.

The former minister said the bulk of the 33 seats were won because of the ULF with Robinson's Democratic Action Congress (DAC) only holding on to the two seats in Tobago that it traditionally won since 1976.

“Robinson quickly appeared to be dictating everything where ministers held portfolios,” Hosein added.

Robinson told the commission in earlier testimony that he expelled the ULF members because they had no regard for Cabinet governance and wanted to run their ministries without interference from anyone, including the prime minister.

However Hosein didn't see it that way. He said Robinson's style left the ULF group feeling like "we were figureheads.” He noted that Robinson bypassed them and relied on “outside advisers”, including senior civil servant Eugenio Moore, on matters pertaining to their own ministries.

Hosein said Robinson didn't care for input from ministers who came from the ULF group, bypassing Energy Minister Kelvin Ramnath's opinions and seeking advice instead from economist Trevor Farrel although Ramnath was an expert in energy matters holding a master's degree in petroleum engineering.

He related a similar experience in his own ministry when Robinson undermined him on a matter involving grievances with nurses. The result, he said, was that the Public Services Association never forgave him.

Hosein said the final falling out between Robinson and Panday was over plans to build an Indian cultural centre. Panday had reportedly linked with the Indian government to establish the centre in and went to Robinson about it.

“Robinson’s reaction early was negative,” Hosein said. “He said something about a sovereignty problem, that the Indian government would own land in T&T" and that other sections of the community would be upset about the Indians owning property in the country.

Panday told JYOTI in an interview in 2009 that the incident with the cultural centre demonstrated to him that there was no longer any point in trying to work with Robinson. He said Robinson had agreed to the plan but reneged on it at the last moment. He accused the former PM as having an anti-Indian agenda.  

Hosein did not go that far. However, he said the Indian community felt alienated when Panday and other ULF members were expelled from the NAR government.