 |
| File: Winston Dookeran and Kamla Persad-Bissessar, two of the founding leaders of the People's Partnership |
When the leaders of the the five groups came together to form a coalition to fight the 2010 general election one of the fundamental areas of agreement was that each of the parties would maintain its identity and its philosophy.
They agreed that the common denominator was their collective desire to rid the country of the People's National Movement (PNM) under Patrick Manning and introduce a new system of government.
Ramadhar's predecessor, Winston Dookeran, was the leader who signed the declaration. And he has always remained committed to the partnership.
Last year, while he was still leader of the party, Dookeran told the membership, "We will make it work. Despite criticisms, COP will do its utmost for the People's Partnership coalition government to be sustained in power."
He called the coalition of interests a new era of politics, which he said has now become a new mode of governance. "Trinidad and Tobago is now in that alliance, and COP will continue to uphold its historic responsibility," he said.
One of the fundamental areas of agreement in the Fyzabad Declaration was to establish mechanisms for the achievement of consensus and the partners agreed that "they will abide by the spirit and letter of the Constitution and law of Trinidad and Tobago" and to propose legislative changes as are necessary to give effect to the will of the people.
That spirit and letter of the constitution gives an individual the right to freedom of expression and the freedom to join a political party of his/her choice, which is what Marlene Coudray did.
She exercised her constitutional right and as UNC Deputy Political leader Roodal Moonilal said last week, she does not have to apologise to anyone for that.
The COP is making a big fuss and suggesting that Coudray's move to the UNC is damaging to the coalition and Ramadhar even told reporters Tuesday that he considers it a power grab by the UNC to take charge of the San Fernando City Corporation. He also wants Coudray fired and replace by a COP mayor. The truth is COP never wanted her as mayor and is now shedding crocodile tears, suggesting that the UNC stole "its mayor".
What Ramadhar has failed to address is whether COP had been fair to its member and why it treated her with contempt.
She was denied an opportunity to run for the San Fernando West seat in 2010, which according to all projections ahead of the vote, would have been a safe seat for COP. The party handed it to Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, who won the seat as expected.
COP compounded the slight to Coudray by refusing to nominate her for the mayoral post after the coalition won the 2010 Local Government Election. It was the UNC that stepped in and made her mayor.
In making accusations about UNC's intentions COP has conveniently sidestepped these issues and seem to be focused only on suggesting that the UNC is wrong and out of place when COP must take responsibility for Coudray's loss of confidence in the party to which she once belonged.
Ramadhar needs to also remember that he himself tried to "steal" Kamla in 2007 and later, inviting her to "come home to COP".
And why hasn't he and COP made a fuss about some of the high profile people people in the UNC who were members of COP - people like Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and Transport Minister Devant Maharaj who fought seats as COP candidates in the 2007 general election and then returned to the UNC when Kamla became leader. And has he forgotten that he too came from the UNC?
The fact that Coudray won a seat on the UNC's national executive is a statement of confidence in the UNC as an all inclusive party while COP's rantings are lowering its standing within the national community.
One of the things that has always made this coalition an example of political maturity is its ability to function as a single unit while each component part maintains its identity. Unlike the NAR one love experiment, the Partnership is not a homogeneous party; it is a cross section of interests, representing the diversity of Trinidad & Tobago.
Each party must respect the other but at the same time COP and its partners must also respect the right of individual members to make choices. And if those choices mean walking away from COP to the warm embrace of another party, then COP must accept that as the individual's democratic and constitutional right. At the same time it must ask itself WHY!
If there are genuine issues tearing the coalition apart, by all means the leaders must meet, discuss them, arrive at a consensus and move on.
However, the Coudray affair is a manufactured crisis; COP must get over the political tabanca on this and focus on what are the real issues facing the partnership and the government.
Jai Parasram | 28 March 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment