The column below by Congress of the People (COP) member Phillip Edward Alexander is a call to the leadership of his party to "to retreat from the misdirection of the ultimatum handed to the UNC and to focus its/their energies instead on the internal shortcomings within our party and the lack of structure that precipitated this matter."
It has been reproduced unedited from the online site Plain Talk
We in the Congress of the People ascribe to the concept of equal responsibility for all under the banner of new politics.
It has been reproduced unedited from the online site Plain Talk
This idea that the leadership is answerable to the membership is not only the petard we hoisted former Prime Minister Patrick Manning on, but is the justification for the enmity with which we treated the entire PNM for failing to stand up to and rein him and his colleagues in when it was clear that that administration was corrupt in the extreme.
It is the idea of accountability above all else that caused the COP to consider itself separate and apart from the UNC, and as occupiers of this new moral high ground, we the members of the Congress of the People have an obligation to keep OUR leaders in check, to hold them to the highest possible standards both privately and publicly, and be the first to step in and bring them to task if they stray from high principles like integrity and morality in public office.
It is on this position that we who challenge our leadership for the gross dereliction of duty that resulted in the loss of one of our members and a Mayor at that to another Party is built.
Make no mistake, and as in any organization formed since the dawn of man, there will always be members who espouse one thing publicly yet practices another privately. These, to whom the end justifies the means, are usually the beginning of the corruption of a thing and it is the responsibility of the people on whose back the thing is built to question if the path we're on is the direction we set off in.
This is the test of new politics, this requirement to put aside personal feelings for the greater good, to resist the temptation of the gang mindset that comes to dominate all political parties and focus instead our intentions and the decisions we make on what is best for the country as a whole always.
We cannot say one thing and practice another, that is not leadership, that is hypocrisy in its most extreme manifestation and is the most contemptible of human behaviors. Duplicity must never be allowed to be rationalized regardless of the situation and we must always hold on to the tenets of personal responsibility and integrity when challenged with these ideas.
We who disagree with the position taken by the leadership on the Marlene Coudray affair are not dissidents, but patriots first and loyalists to God, country then party. What we want for our party is what it professed it to be about when we joined it, nothing more nothing less.
We insist that our leaders function in honesty and integrity always, to be men and women of national vision who promote policies and agendas that are based on hope, opportunity and equality for all regardless of race, colour, creed or class and, setting aside personal motivations and other distractions, to grow the party as a true force for change for the betterment of our nation.
To that I am committed, and should it require that I have to resign from the Congress of the People to stand by and for these principles then so be it.
It is the idea of accountability above all else that caused the COP to consider itself separate and apart from the UNC, and as occupiers of this new moral high ground, we the members of the Congress of the People have an obligation to keep OUR leaders in check, to hold them to the highest possible standards both privately and publicly, and be the first to step in and bring them to task if they stray from high principles like integrity and morality in public office.
It is on this position that we who challenge our leadership for the gross dereliction of duty that resulted in the loss of one of our members and a Mayor at that to another Party is built.
Make no mistake, and as in any organization formed since the dawn of man, there will always be members who espouse one thing publicly yet practices another privately. These, to whom the end justifies the means, are usually the beginning of the corruption of a thing and it is the responsibility of the people on whose back the thing is built to question if the path we're on is the direction we set off in.
This is the test of new politics, this requirement to put aside personal feelings for the greater good, to resist the temptation of the gang mindset that comes to dominate all political parties and focus instead our intentions and the decisions we make on what is best for the country as a whole always.
We cannot say one thing and practice another, that is not leadership, that is hypocrisy in its most extreme manifestation and is the most contemptible of human behaviors. Duplicity must never be allowed to be rationalized regardless of the situation and we must always hold on to the tenets of personal responsibility and integrity when challenged with these ideas.
We who disagree with the position taken by the leadership on the Marlene Coudray affair are not dissidents, but patriots first and loyalists to God, country then party. What we want for our party is what it professed it to be about when we joined it, nothing more nothing less.
We insist that our leaders function in honesty and integrity always, to be men and women of national vision who promote policies and agendas that are based on hope, opportunity and equality for all regardless of race, colour, creed or class and, setting aside personal motivations and other distractions, to grow the party as a true force for change for the betterment of our nation.
To that I am committed, and should it require that I have to resign from the Congress of the People to stand by and for these principles then so be it.
I stand by the position that it was a gross dereliction of duty and a lack of professional management that has resulted in not only the loss of Her Worship the Mayor of San Fernando to the ranks of another political organization, but every other member who has quietly left since appeasement and excuses for questionable governmental decisions and behavior became the dominant posture of the Congress of the People since becoming a junior coalition partner in government.
I once again call on the leadership of the Congress of the People to retreat from the misdirection of the ultimatum handed to the UNC and to focus its/their energies instead on the internal shortcomings within our party and the lack of structure that precipitated this matter. I also call on the leadership to re-present themselves to the membership for a fresh mandate to lead, as this fracture cannot be healed by pleasant sounding sound bytes or grand charge.
I once again call on the leadership of the Congress of the People to retreat from the misdirection of the ultimatum handed to the UNC and to focus its/their energies instead on the internal shortcomings within our party and the lack of structure that precipitated this matter. I also call on the leadership to re-present themselves to the membership for a fresh mandate to lead, as this fracture cannot be healed by pleasant sounding sound bytes or grand charge.
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