This is what Ramadhar told the media Thursday (April 12) at the end of the an inconclusive fourth partnership meeting on the matter:
"Where the future of our country and our partnership may be jeopardised, I ask how could anyone in honour hold on to the office they did not gain by work? I can tell you what my position would be if there was harm to my country, I would be the first to stand down and allow things to go forward."
That's a clear message to Coudray that she is, in his view, the problem and that she just has to walk and the problem is over.
Ramadhar's contention is that Coudray's position was not earned in the same way that an MP earns his/her seat and that a mayor is a political appointee, not a true people's representative. In that context, he said, all it takes to remove a mayor is the political will.
And he appeared to be pointing fingers at Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, suggesting that she is dragging her feet on resolving the impasse.
Ramadhar is standing in political quicksand and instead of trying to get a helping hand out of the mess he is sinking deeper while blaming everyone but himself.
Ramadhar's contention is that Coudray's position was not earned in the same way that an MP earns his/her seat and that a mayor is a political appointee, not a true people's representative. In that context, he said, all it takes to remove a mayor is the political will.
And he appeared to be pointing fingers at Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, suggesting that she is dragging her feet on resolving the impasse.
Ramadhar is standing in political quicksand and instead of trying to get a helping hand out of the mess he is sinking deeper while blaming everyone but himself.
Kamla is doing what she does best: avoiding a hasty decision and allowing the stakeholders to argue over the matter so that at the end of it all the partnership would arrive at what's best for the coalition and the country.
She reiterated on Wednesday the guiding principle among leaders would be "that we all put the greater good as foremost in our minds in making our decisions". And she assured the media that she intends to hold the Partnership together.
I have no doubt that she will.
I have no doubt that she will.
However in politics a day is a long time. So as an observer on the outside and a citizen who cares deeply about what happens to Trinidad & Tobago I trust that the leaders - including Ramadhar - would act responsibly and quell this storm in a teapot and move on with the people's business of creating the just society that that Kamla and the partnership promised.
But coming back to Ramadhar. How can he now blame Coudray for putting the country and the partnership in jeopardy?
In the first instance, COP treated the lady with contempt by refusing to let her run for the San Fernando West seat in the 2010 general election when it knew that she could win. She came close in 2007 when it was a three-party contest.
Secondly COP is also avoiding discussion on the fact that while it did not propose Coudray to be mayor she has been - with the blessing of the UNC - the mayor for two years.
Yet no one in COP complained about Coudray or the running of the San Fernando City Corporation until she showed up last month at Rienzi Complex in the company of UNC jefes Roodal Moonilal and Suruj Rambachan to file her nomination papers to run as a candidate for one of the posts of deputy leader of the party.
Suddenly, the UNC was "poaching" and when she won a high profile post in the March 24 UNC election COP's embarrassment reached its peak with the chorus from the leadership that she must be fired
Ramadhar is the one who is putting the partnership at risk with his poor leadership in the handling of this matter. And by extension, he is causing harm to the country. So if we take him at his word - "I would be the first to stand down and allow things to go forward" - he should resign.
If Ramadhar and his chairman Joseph Toney had approached this matter professionally from the beginning there never would have been an issue. But in typical COP style they preferred to wear their morality and integrity on their sleeves and make a public display.
The Coudray affair only became an irritant because the lady decided that she had enough of COP and wanted a political change. That is her democratic and constitutional right. COP has always pledged to fight for an uphold citizens' rights, yet with political egg on its face, it chose to use emotive language like "poaching" and "disrespect" to malign the UNC.
Kamla could have said to Ramadhar "take your MPs and go" and still have enough strength to govern. However, she knows that would have been unethical and immoral since the electorate voted for a partnership, a coalition that collectively pledged to rid the country of the PNM plague and make T&T better.
She pledged in 2010 to unite her party and the opposition to create the broadest coalition of interests in the country; she achieved that and won the endorsement of the electorate.
In the past two years there have been disagreements and quarrels as is expected in a 'family' with such a cross section of interests. However, in the end the leaders always kept the big picture in view and arrived at consensus on what was best for the coalition, the government and the country.
Kamla did not have to include everybody and perhaps she would have still won the 2010 general election. That was never her intention. She ran for the UNC leadership on the slogans: "We deserve Better" and "United We Win" and since then has been doing all within her power to keep this group together for the good of the nation.
If COP sincerely believes that the Coudray matter - which in my opinion is quite low on the scale of national priorities - is the issue for which it must leave, then the other leaders should wish them well and let them go.
The government will survive and perhaps some COP members might choose to stay. You may recall when ANR Robinson tossed out the "ULF elements" from the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government, some ULF MPs - including Winston Dookeran - refused to leave with leave with Panday.
Has COP surveyed its membership on this? Does the party and its floor members sincerely believe that COP can walk away and become a powerful alternative? Has COP asked its sitting MPs how they feel?
When COP took birth as a protest movement under the leadership of former UNC leader Winston Dookeran, the political mood in Trinidad & Tobago created the ideal opportunity for fresh political thinking and what Dookeran called "new politics".
Things have changed dramatically since then. Basdeo Panday and Patrick Manning have both disappeared from the political radar and Kamla is fully in charge.
Some of the UNC insiders are saying she can do it alone and perhaps she can. But that was never her intention or style; she believes in unity and is a coalition builder.
The lady I know as the Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago will continue to do all within her power to continue to offer a warm embrace to everyone because she knows that the days of partisan politics are gone forever and political success depends on a leader's ability to represent and serve ALL the people, ALL the time.
Jai Parasram | Toronto, 13 April 2012
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