Will the Opposition let Karen off the hook?
Embattled Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira, who understandably, is still mourning her father’s passing, would have learnt by now that a week in politics can be a very, very long time.
Only last week, her female nemesis on the Opposition benches, Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar wanted the police to lock her up; no confidence motion passed against her and other stringent action taken.
Persad-Bissessar and others in the United National Congress/Alliance (UNC/A) are now more focused on damaging each other. She and the Basdeo Panday faction want to remove “neemakahram” Ramesh Lawrence-Maharaj as parliamentary Chief Whip; to throw him out of the party for the second time; to discipline Jack Warner, etc., etc.
Apparently all the perceived “sins” Nunez-Tesheira has committed have been placed on the back-burner as internecine warfare rages in the UNC/A.
Nunez-Tesheira can now proceed to deliver the defence of her involvement in the Clico bailout affair without the united might of the UNC/A ranged against her in the House on Friday.
Not that the Opposition will agree with what she has to say: it is simply, that the Opposition is distracted.
Maharaj, Warner and Winston ”Gypsy” Peters have talked about sitting in the back benches and surely at Friday’s sitting the animosity will be among the Opposition with the Government members getting a bit of a temporary reprieve.
It takes one back to 1978/1979 when there was a Panday faction of the United Labour Front (ULF) and a Raffique Shah faction with the latter trying to unseat Panday as Opposition Leader.
In 1987, the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) had fallen apart with Panday and his cohorts sitting in the backbenches opposing their erstwhile cabinet colleagues.
Nunez-Tesheira would have taken note of the bacchanal in the UNC/A as she prepares to give her side of the Clico affair which she should have done last week.
She has had the backing of Prime Minister Patrick Manning who clearly has insulted the intelligence of a great deal of people by describing the criticisms of Nunez-Tesheira as an Opposition plot to make her look bad.
Nunez-Tesheira, obviously, will give yet another side of her story, regarding her investments in Clico Investment Bank (CIB); when these investments matured, when they did not, why she broke her fixed deposit and so on.
She will also have to explain why she was part of the negotiations when she had a monetary interest in C.L. Financial; what assets and liabilities she lodged with the Integrity Commission, for what years etc., etc.
It will interesting to see her political and legal footwork.
Comments
One Response to “Will the Opposition let Karen off the hook?”
I for one will be watching on Friday. There is no doubt that if the Opposition’s biggest problem is themselves then we are really in for a tough tough famine. But our history, while young, has taken enough of these “taps” and clouts behind the head for nothing. We see persons wantoningly flouting all the rules and they continue on as normal.
While rules are rules…the rules and examples that we ALL see enforced (thinking of the removal of the dark tint) only serve to cause more strife on the citizens who now have to add on to their morning and evening commutes. Which lesson do you think would be the one better taught? Where the evidence and timing suggest that Ms. Nunez appeared to “profit” from words along the grapevine – she must be made to resign and face whatever tune the piper plays for her. I can name Martha Stewart, even the “Iron Maiden” Mrs. Thatcher were unearthed by similar circumstances.
Thanks for the link to the site and all the best.