?No one who has followed the career of Basdeo Panday should be surprised about his actions following his humiliating defeat at the internal elections of the United National Congress (UNC), elections which decided on the leadership and future direction of the party. On three previous occasions when the vote in internal polls did not go in favour of Mr Panday's slate of candidates, he smashed the elected executive to regain total control of the party. In the instance when he conceded leadership to Winston Dookeran, on his tack back he not only retrieved the political leadership of the party but grabbed hold of the chairmanship too, taking complete control of the party. Also, when Mr Panday aligned his political forces with the National Alliance for Reconstruction, he found it necessary to break up the party as the overwhelming majority won by the NAR left him without the power to control the organisation and therefore the government.
No one should be under any illusion that what Mr Panday is angling to do this time around amounts to the same thing: discredit the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led executive, even claiming there was fraud in the elections process, and initiate conflict among the members of the executive and between that body and the UNC Members of Parliament, all with the intention to eventually bring about a collapse of the newly and so overwhelmingly elected executive. It is also not surprising that Mr Panday has selected Jack Warner as his initial target for derision, believing that he could use the Fifa vice-president as a kind of lightning rod for his dislike. This type of tribal targeting is typical of Mr Panday, using the divide-and-rule tactic to hold his place of power within the Indo-Trinidadian political base.
But so wedded is he to such politics that he cannot even discern that the vast majority of those who voted for Mr Warner in the internal polls against Vasant Bharath must have been Indo-Trinidadian. Also, no one should be surprised that while Mr Panday said he would listen to the voice of the people and do their bidding, he is not only ignoring the vote of the electorate, but is instigating those MPs with allegiance to him to do the same. What Mr Panday has said during his long and tumultuous career and what he has done on so many occasions have been separate and apart, words not matching deeds. As to the actions and positions adopted so far by the MPs, those who have been said to have signed on to Mrs Persad-Bissessar's team must be commended. They clearly have understood the mandate they have been given by their constituents by the vote in the internal polls and are now legitimately giving their support to the newly elected political leader.
Those who have not done so thus far are hiding behind every possible excuse for a reason. Instead of engaging in sophistry, instead of blindly following the footsteps of a leader who has been rejected by the electorate, if they are reluctant to take heed of the election results, they should go out into their communities and genuinely sound out opinion there. Find out who their constituents would have them support for the position Leader of the Opposition. Surely, this would be the most reliable weather vane for them to take guidance from instead of the wishes of a fading political don whose best years of service to the people are long behind him. The time is right for the UNC to organise itself behind one leader who has the potential to take the party forward to make the kinds of alliances required and to acquit itself to the task of taking on the PNM. The time for foolish politicking is gone.