HOW TO SELECT A UNC LEADER IN PNM COUNTRY
Story by JACK WARNER
ISSUE 128 Friday 30th OCTOBER, 2015 (SunShineTT.com)
This is why the UNC will not win the next General Election to be held in this country. They lie too much.
All of a sudden they hit their supporters with the news that Internal Elections will be held on December 5, 2015.
The general response is “Huh?” Not even an exclamation but a question mark.
How could that be when prior to the General Election of September 7, 2015 when they failed to call Internal Elections, their Ag Chairman Khadijah Ameen stated that it was because the party was engaging in constitutional reform.
When did this reform end and where is the report?
When was it presented to the national membership and when was the vote taken?
This is just another case of betrayal and another reason for the membership of the UNC to look elsewhere for a leader except in the direction of Kamla PersadBissessar.
What is amazing is that even Dr. Roodal Moonilal, a possible contender for the leadership position based on his former rhetoric most likely was caught off-guard.
Just after election results were over and the leader of the UNC conceded defeat, Dr. Moonilal was asked the question about Internal Elections within the UNC.
His response then was that Internal Elections would take place in early 2016 since he felt that the party would take a hiatus
until after Christmas before getting down to business.
Lo and behold, Internal Elections are called for December 5, 2015.
Already there is a buzz on the ground, not really one of excitement but rather eager anticipation for the trash talking to begin.
Many are hoping that Kamla Persad-Bissessar does not put her hat in the ring to vie for the leadership.
Already many are talking about her audacity to remain in the Parliament as Leader of the Opposition and Political Leader of the UNC after having lost five consecutive elections.
Not only UNC supporters but also the national community now feels that she should take a page out of the book of former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who resigned after conceding defeat to the incumbent Justin Trudeau.
But those close to Kamla suggest that her resignation will never come because it is not just an obsession she has with power but an obsession that extends way beyond the concept of megalomania.
So UNC supporters expect to see her name on the ballot sheet contesting the post of political leader; only a miracle of gargantuan proportions would stop her.
Another possible candidate is Dr. Roodal Moonilal who was groomed by the great Basdeo Panday and identified as the heir apparent to Kamla Persad Bissessar.
But the feeling is that Dr. Moonilal has lost the political currency he once had during his early tenure in office.
There is no doubt that if Dr. Moonilal contests the post for political leader that he will win.
The UNC supporters will vote for him but the real problem is, having ascended to the post of Political Leader is he attractive enough to win votes outside the UNC base and elevate the UNC back into government?
The answer is no! A big fat No!
His latest outburst in the Parliament has virtually guaranteed that he will never see the Prime Minister’s seat of power ever in Trinidad and Tobago.
That “stink mouth” comment has angered the PNM supporters and Dr. Moonilal while he remains a major attraction within the UNC is nothing more than a pariah among the national community.
Since elections are a just over a month away, supporters need to be guided because when I was in the UNC my biggest peeve resonated in the reality that the ambitions of its leadership were never guided by how they were perceived on the political landscape and as such they contested a string of elections that has given the party the perception that it is best suited for the opposition.
The truth is that if the UNC is to return to power, it needs to elect leaders who are capable of swinging votes especially in traditional
PNM constituencies.
History will show that the UNC base always remains true and loyal to the party.
Anytime the UNC or a coalition wins a general election it is because disenchanted PNM voters have either decided to stay away from the polls or vote against their party as an act of protest.
This is why the PNM does not ever stay long in Opposition because once the conditions which gave rise to the protest are removed, as was the case with Patrick Manning, supporters returned to their original moorings and installed the PNM back into power.
That is why Trinidad and Tobago is called PNM country because even when the UNC is in government, it is the PNM supporters who put them there.
So returning Kamla to the post of political leader is a sure way of the UNC remaining among the Opposition benches until post 2025.
Dr. Moonilal is even worse because no PNM supporter will soil their fingers in support of a man who on a political platform also referred to their political leader as “stink mouth.”
The UNC is in real trouble; it has a leadership crisis.
The only possible person who has cross appeal in this country is Vasant Bharath and his attractiveness has diminished by his inability to bring home the seat of St. Joseph back into the house of the UNC.
True enough, he is in the Senate but he has registered one loss against his name and that is never a good place for one who has leadership ambitions to start.
This is a strategic move by Kamla Persad-Bissessar because she feels that given the current competitors, the deck is now stacked in her favour.
But UNC supporters must be concerned with the fallout they have experienced under her and ask themselves the question whether it is prudent to elect one who has been rejected five times at the polls or elect a virtual unknown, a young leader who can be groomed to take the party to excellence.
The whole national executive needs to go and brand new faces with new energy and less baggage need to be installed.
My advice to all UNC supporters who I know will eventually traipse across to the ILP is to interrogate each candidate on what their intentions are as it relates to this coalition of convenience which does not exist.
NJAC, NAR and the rest are not even worth mentioning because they are not just dead but fully decomposed and bring no value to the UNC.
The COP is being kept alive via life support by the UNC.
The candidate whom the UNC supporters should choose must offer a clear direction as to what plans they have for euthanizing the COP.
If none exists, vote for their worst candidate and then join forces with the ILP and let us work to create a viable option to the PNM in government.
