Jack future hangs in the balance
By COREY CONNELLY (NEWSDAY).
Sunday, March 22 2015
He came to the constituency on a wave of popularity, representing, in the minds of those under his jurisdiction, the salve for the ills they had been experiencing over the decades.
Now, almost five years later, Jack Warner’s future as the Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West hangs in the balance, so much so that some constituents, dissatisfied with his leadership, are vowing to return to the fold of the United National Congress (UNC) in a region which has been one of the party’s traditional strongholds.
Some constituents contend that Warner, 72, political leader of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) has not been representing the constituency as effectively as he did prior to his party’s defeat in the October 21, 2013 Local Government election.
Although the fledgling party had made some headway, it still suffered a crushing blow in the poll and did not gain control of any corporation. The ILP, in essence, failed to build on momentum of its huge win in the Chaguanas West by-election, three months before. For resident Dolly Baldeo, the ILP leader has fallen terribly short of expectations in the constituency.
“Jack Warner fail,” she told Sunday Newsday during an interview at her parlour along Cacandee Road, Felicity.
Expressing disillusionment with Warner’s representation, Baldeo related a personal experience of being turned away from the constituency office last year whilst trying to get assistance with house repairs for one of her children. “He did not help me. He said he can’t help nobody now,” Baldeo said of Warner.
She also accused several staff members at the office of being impolite.
“They don’t know how to treat people and talk to people,” she said, claiming that other constituents also were disenchanted with Warner’s representation.
Baldeo claimed that Chaguanas West residents, during visits to the constituency office, often had to “take a back seat,” to persons from other areas.
She said Warner had not honoured many of his promises to the people.
“When he win the by-election, he said he would send doctors and other medical people to homes and nothing like that has come about. Why is he making promises and cannot fulfil it?” she asked.
Baldeo told Sunday Newsday she and members of her family were once ardent Warner supporters. “Although he has lost the election, we still stuck with him. We used to get sick behind Warner, coming home all 12 midnight and one o’clock in the morning,” she said. Baldeo acknowledged, though, that Warner still had some support in the constituency but could not say how he would fare in the upcoming general election. “I don’t even want to hear about election again,” she said. Baldeo listed inadequate housing, squatting and illegal drug use as some of the problems plaguing the community.
With a general election constitutionally due by September, Chaguanas West will be one of the constituencies to watch.
The ILP, which had its upheavals since entering the political landscape in July 5, 2013, said in a statement last November that it will re-contest the Chaguanas West seat along with 22 other constituencies for the election.
The party has begun its Meet The Constituencies tour, appointing shadow MPs in each of the constituencies it has agreed to contest thus far.
Warner, who beat the UNC’s Khadijah Ameen by more than 7,000 votes in the July 29, 2013 Chaguanas West by-election, is uncertain as to whether he will re-contest the seat. The People’s National Movement (PNM), meanwhile, has selected microbiologist Abbegail Nandalal, 29, as its candidate. Leader of Government Business in the Senate Ganga Singh is tipped to be the UNC’s candidate even though the party’s screening exercise is yet to begin.
At the height of his popularity in 2010, Warner brought home the Chaguanas West seat for the UNC, receiving 18,767 votes. The PNM’s Ronald Heera’s got just 1, 147 votes.
Later, following reports of allegations of wrongdoing in FIFA, the world governing body for football and the release of damning material which was contained in the Sir David Simmons Concacaf Integrity Commission report - Warner gave up both his ministerial portfolio and position as MP.
He subsequently sought a fresh mandate from his Chaguanas West constituents, many of whom had admitted to the possibility that Ameen could have maintained the party’s status quo in the central constituency.
Warner, though, secured an overwhelming victory, garnering 12, 631 votes in comparison to Ameen’s 5, 126 votes. The PNM’s Avinash Singh (now an Opposition senator and the PNM’s candidate for Caroni Central) received just 422 votes. The ILP, though, could not replicate its success of the Chaguanas West by-election on a national level in the Local Government election and was rejected in each corporation even though the party’s presence was felt in terms of the splitting of the votes in the Chaguanas corporation, a traditional UNC corporation. While some blamed Warner’s somewhat laxed representation on a perceived inability to access resources from central government, others chalked up his seeming indifference to an unwillingness to treat with the needs of the people in the aftermath of the ILP’s defeat in the local government election.
In Felicity, an area which had represented the bulk of Warner’s support, Mukesh Salickram contends that while there has been some “rapid enhancement” in Chaguanas West, there has been “no big improvements,” in terms of new projects.
A retired worker of the Couva/Tabaquite Regional Corporation, Salickram believes that Warner’s representation has “diminished to its lowest ebb.”
“When the election date is announced, then they will voice their opinion.”
In fact, he predicted victory for the UNC in the upcoming election.
“The UNC will take the seat because Jack is fragmenting,” he said.
“Plenty Jack supporters rock back and gone UNC but I don’t know what will play off.”
Salickram said an incoming MP will need to focus on completing existing projects, given the falling oil prices.
But for some residents, Warner remains the ultimate representative.
“I would like to see him go back as the candidate,” Angie Ramnath said.
“He was here for Divali and he comes out a gives hampers in December.”
Ramnath said it was Warner and not Kamla Persad-Bissessar, that should have been prime minister in the first place.
“Is he who put her there,” she claimed.
Born and raised in Felicity, Ramnath said Warner had love for the people.
“You could talk to him anywhere. He is never too busy for anything and he is always concerned about what you have to say. As my grandson used to say before the by-election - Jack is the man.”
“Win or no win, we still voting for him,” Ramnath said.
Saying she could not understand how the ILP lost the Local Government election, Ramnath said Warner had many supporters.
“When he coming around, real crowd does turn out,” she said.
Another staunch Warner supporter, who lives on Bachu Kariah Street, also claimed that the Chaguanas West MP still had weight in the constituency but admitted that his popularity had reduced somewhat.
“It is a close call and it is really tipping more to the Partnership side,” he said.
The man argued that the Partnership had “unlimited funds,” which he felt could be used to sway former ILP voters to the UNC and he contended that the quality of Warner’s representation had not dwindled.
UNC chairman Khadijah Ameen, who had unsuccessfully challenged Warner in the Chaguanas West by-election, said the party had been doing its work in the constituency and was confident of regaining the seat in the upcoming general election.
“We have been very active, I have no doubt that Chaguanas West will return to the UNC in 2015,” she told Sunday Newsday.
Ameen said since the by-election, the party’s campaign office, along the Southern Main Road, Charlieville, has remained open to service the needs of constituents.
She said: “The resources of the government’s been reaching to the people through several ministers. We also have a system in the party where senators become caretakers of various constituencies. For instance, Ganga Singh is the caretaker for Chaguanas West.”
Ameen said the constituency experienced much neglect under the PNM.
“We had a lot of work to do in terms of agricultural access roads, infrastructure, repairs to schools,” she said. Adding that the party had also maintained strong social and religious ties through several functioning non-governmental organisations in the constituency.
The UNC’s party groups were also very active, she said.
Poll