UNC/A power struggle rages
The battle lines are drawn.
It now looks very much like a fight to the finish between Basdeo Panday and dissidents Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Jack Warner and Winston “Gypsy” Peters for the remains of the United National Congress/Alliance (UNC/A).
In the latest installment of this power struggle, Maharaj and Warner walked out of a meeting of the party’s parliamentary caucus and national executive at the Rienzi Complex, Couva, because Warner claimed Panday, who chaired the meeting, “insulted my presentation.”
Panday denied this.
Maharaj joined the walkout in solidarity with Warner.
He said he believed that Panday had taken sides and should not have chaired the meeting.
He said he suggested that a meeting of party members should be held so that each member could speak freely, adding that the executive does not represent the views of the people.
Warner asked afterwards “if we are the ones who have presided over a party where there are no audited accounts for over 20 years?”
Maharaj, Warner, Peters and other party members have been holding a series of meetings, in the party’s strongholds, calling for change in the UNC/A.
Tonight, a meeting will be held in Arima.
At meetings, speakers have been calling on Panday, who will be 76 next month, to step down as political leader, which according to a recent NACTA poll, is a sentiment which reflects the wishes of most members.
To all appearances, Panday will definitely not be doing this: he has, in fact, alluded to the possibility of the trio being expelled from the party for their actions.
Over the past three decades, Panday has turned back several political challenges – from Raffique Shah in 1978 when Panday was political leader of the United Labour Front (ULF) to Winston Dookeran, who left the UNC afterwards to form the Congress of the People (COP).