If the Congress of the People (COP) has genuine concerns with the way the People’s Partnership is functioning then it has every right to sit with its partners and work out the details in the interest of the government of which it is a part, and the people of Trinidad & Tobago.
However, I cannot agree that the Marlene Coudray matter is important enough – or even valid – as a reason for COP leader Prakash Ramadhar and his executive to want to mash up the partnership.
Unless the COP leadership changes it attitude, they could soon face the reality that the party doesn’t have the support or credibility to make any significant progress on the national political front.
In coalition politics, minority partners generally have control since the survival of a government depends on their critical votes. However in Trinidad & Tobago today, that is not the case.
Even if COP were to walk out with its six MPs Kamla and the UNC would still have a majority of 21 and the real losers will be COP and the people of Trinidad & Tobago. The partnership would be weaker and COP would no longer have any influence on national policy but Kamla’s government won’t fall.
Kamla has always reached out to the members of the partnership, listening to their concerns and responding to their needs. COP, for example, has shared much more from the partnership arrangement than if the proportional representation formula were used as a yardstick to determine allocation of political resources.
The president of the Senate is COP. At the cabinet level, COP controls the ministries of Finance, Planning, Sports, Public Administration and Legal Affairs. And many of its members hold important board positions, including chairmanships of state companies.
COP must seriously ask itself this question: which of the six COP MPs really wants to walk away from cabinet, knowing that such action would leave the UNC fully in charge of government?
Prakash is going about this the wrong way. And his demand is undemocratic. It is wrong to tell the PM to fire a mayor; she does not have that right.
The council elects a mayor, so the democratic thing to do is to let the council consider the arguments and decide for itself whether it has confidence in the mayor.
That determination to find compromise led to the historic Fyzabad Declaration and the dawn of a new era of participatory democracy in Trinidad & Tobago politics.
Kamla and her colleagues in the four other political movements that formed the People’s Partnership were determined to find common ground on which to unite and determine policy to take Trinidad & Tobago forward.
Theirs was a coalition of interests that was different from anything Trinidad & Tobago had ever seen. In the sharing of the seats for the general election, Prakash got St Augustine, one of the safest UNC constituencies in the country, the one that eluded Winston Dookeran in 2007 when he led COP against the UNC.
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However, I cannot agree that the Marlene Coudray matter is important enough – or even valid – as a reason for COP leader Prakash Ramadhar and his executive to want to mash up the partnership.
Unless the COP leadership changes it attitude, they could soon face the reality that the party doesn’t have the support or credibility to make any significant progress on the national political front.
In coalition politics, minority partners generally have control since the survival of a government depends on their critical votes. However in Trinidad & Tobago today, that is not the case.
Even if COP were to walk out with its six MPs Kamla and the UNC would still have a majority of 21 and the real losers will be COP and the people of Trinidad & Tobago. The partnership would be weaker and COP would no longer have any influence on national policy but Kamla’s government won’t fall.
Kamla has always reached out to the members of the partnership, listening to their concerns and responding to their needs. COP, for example, has shared much more from the partnership arrangement than if the proportional representation formula were used as a yardstick to determine allocation of political resources.
The president of the Senate is COP. At the cabinet level, COP controls the ministries of Finance, Planning, Sports, Public Administration and Legal Affairs. And many of its members hold important board positions, including chairmanships of state companies.
COP must seriously ask itself this question: which of the six COP MPs really wants to walk away from cabinet, knowing that such action would leave the UNC fully in charge of government?
Prakash is going about this the wrong way. And his demand is undemocratic. It is wrong to tell the PM to fire a mayor; she does not have that right.
The council elects a mayor, so the democratic thing to do is to let the council consider the arguments and decide for itself whether it has confidence in the mayor.
To do otherwise contradicts the political philosophy of COP and the other members of the partnership.
The truth is this political tantrum is making COP weaker. And if it insists on creating a mountain out of this molehill, its support will slide further.
Let us not forget that COP began as a splinter group of the UNC that morphed into an independent party. Once the “offending” part of the UNC was excised from the body the majority of the disenchanted UNC followers returned home to the UNC, among them high profile people like Anand Ramlogan and Devant Maharaj, both of whom are senior members of the cabinet.
COP was a hybrid of disillusioned UNC members and activists, former members of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) and certain middle and upper class citizens who rejected the People’s National Movement (PNM) but were too aloof and arrogant to associate with the “common folks” who comprised the UNC rank and file. To put it bluntly, they didn’t want to be associated with “cane field” Indians.
The truth is this political tantrum is making COP weaker. And if it insists on creating a mountain out of this molehill, its support will slide further.
Let us not forget that COP began as a splinter group of the UNC that morphed into an independent party. Once the “offending” part of the UNC was excised from the body the majority of the disenchanted UNC followers returned home to the UNC, among them high profile people like Anand Ramlogan and Devant Maharaj, both of whom are senior members of the cabinet.
COP was a hybrid of disillusioned UNC members and activists, former members of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) and certain middle and upper class citizens who rejected the People’s National Movement (PNM) but were too aloof and arrogant to associate with the “common folks” who comprised the UNC rank and file. To put it bluntly, they didn’t want to be associated with “cane field” Indians.
The moment Kamla removed Basdeo Panday as leader of the UNC, COP’s fortunes diminished; the UNC became stronger with the warm embrace of a leader who was ready to unite the opposition and prepare to govern.
That determination to find compromise led to the historic Fyzabad Declaration and the dawn of a new era of participatory democracy in Trinidad & Tobago politics.
Kamla and her colleagues in the four other political movements that formed the People’s Partnership were determined to find common ground on which to unite and determine policy to take Trinidad & Tobago forward.
Theirs was a coalition of interests that was different from anything Trinidad & Tobago had ever seen. In the sharing of the seats for the general election, Prakash got St Augustine, one of the safest UNC constituencies in the country, the one that eluded Winston Dookeran in 2007 when he led COP against the UNC.
Dookeran saw the political light that Kamla rekindled and became the first to join hands with the UNC in an historic alliance that changed the politics of Trinidad & Tobago forever.
Today, with the return of the prodigals, the UNC is stronger than it has ever been and it has shed the ghost of racism that had haunted it for a long time.
Both Kamla and chairman Jack Warner are determined to lead a party that represents Trinidad & Tobago’s diversity and to continue to support the coalition of interest that saw the political demise of Panday and Manning.
Today, with the return of the prodigals, the UNC is stronger than it has ever been and it has shed the ghost of racism that had haunted it for a long time.
Both Kamla and chairman Jack Warner are determined to lead a party that represents Trinidad & Tobago’s diversity and to continue to support the coalition of interest that saw the political demise of Panday and Manning.
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COP now has a choice to stay within the partnership and keep its identity while being able to influence policy or it can walk away with its MPs and cause its death by suicide.
I would wager that Prakash would find it difficult – if not impossible – to take his MPs out of government even if he takes COP out of the coalition. How Prakash concludes this matter will determine whether he is a leader or just another rabble-rousing politician.
Jai Parasram | Toronto – 01 April, 2010
I would wager that Prakash would find it difficult – if not impossible – to take his MPs out of government even if he takes COP out of the coalition. How Prakash concludes this matter will determine whether he is a leader or just another rabble-rousing politician.
Jai Parasram | Toronto – 01 April, 2010
1 comment:
Ouch!
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