The PNM does not wash its dirty linen in public. Prime Minister Patrick Manning made this comment during the party's 54th anniversary celebrations interfaith thanksgiving rally at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Its theme was "We've come this far by faith." Although he maintained the PNM did not interfere in the politics of other political parties, Manning boasted that the PNM model was the best with regard to internal organisation and discipline. "We take careful note of what goes on in other political parties...We want to know what not to do," he said. He then waded into the practice of washing dirty linen in public. "If you find dirty linen being washed in public, it has to do with the method of selection," Manning said.
"If you find people are washing their dirty linen in public, it is not the way of the PNM." Commenting on the modus operandi of other political parties, Manning said: "Is it right to say what you want about what you want? Then you say yesterday was yesterday today, and today and tomorrow will see about itself. Then you expect we will put confidence in you." Touching on the topic of alcohol, he said after World War II, the British elected Sir Winston Churchill even though he was a heavy drinker. "They needed somebody to hold the country together...After that they voted him out," he said. "If we know somebody drinks, don't you think we should know about it?"
Before making reference to "dirty linen," he spoke about the practice of "one man, one vote. "The minute you say 'one man, one vote,' you are conducting the party's affairs in the full glare of the public," he said. The party was structured on the delegate system. The delegates vote in a convention." He said PNM opponents had labelled the use of delegates as "an undemocratic approach." Manning also maintained that he did not sell his vehicle to late drug dealer Dole Chadee. He paid kudos to the late historian Dr Eric Williams, who had the vision to found the party on January 24, 1956. "He wanted to utilise his education for the benefit and upliftment of the people of T&T," said Manning.
