RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Op­po­si­tion leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar will ap­par­ent­ly have com­pe­ti­tion from for­mer Cab­i­net mem­ber Fuad Khan for the lead­er­ship po­si­tion of the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress come June 26.

How­ev­er, nei­ther Khan nor the in­ter­nal elec­tion com­mit­tee would con­firm Khan’s reg­is­tra­tion for the process by the end of the Nom­i­na­tion Day ex­er­cise at the Ram­per­sad Build­ing in San Fer­nan­do yes­ter­day.

Con­tact­ed last evening af­ter the close of the nom­i­na­tion process, Khan re­fused to con­firm whether he had filed nom­i­na­tions. When asked, he re­spond­ed: “Maybe.”

In a sub­se­quent voice note, he said: “It is very im­por­tant that the mem­ber­ship of UNC dic­tates the pace of the par­ty. The par­ty should not be dic­tat­ed by the one max­i­mum leader who de­cides on every­thing. We have come to a time where the mem­ber­ship must come out and de­ter­mine one leader in Par­lia­ment and the oth­er would fo­cus on the par­ty, make it strong.”

Last night, how­ev­er, for­mer UNC MP Ra­mona Ram­di­al said apart from the Per­sad-Bisses­sar slate, she was told Khan had filed nom­i­na­tions to con­test the po­lit­i­cal leader post, while she (Ram­di­al) had filed a nom­i­na­tion for elec­tions of­fi­cer. She said Dr Khan did not file the nom­i­na­tion him­self but it was con­firmed by some­one in his of­fice.

Ram­di­al said there had been many dis­crep­an­cies in the elec­tions process in 2020 but not­ed that she will be mon­i­tor­ing and re­port­ing any­thing that is not above board in the forth­com­ing elec­tions. “We filed the nom­i­na­tions be­cause we be­lieve we must chal­lenge the process be­cause the Per­sad-Bisses­sar slate needs to be chal­lenged. We need change in the par­ty,” Ram­di­al said.

She said they planned to write to the UNC elec­tion com­mit­tee and make some rec­om­men­da­tions on how the elec­tions can be a more fair process.

“In the last elec­tions, thou­sands of UNC mem­bers were un­able to vote. Be­fore 2014, once you were a hold­er of a UNC par­ty card you were al­lowed to vote. Post-2015, if your name is not on the list for that time, you were de­nied the op­por­tu­ni­ty to vote even if had a par­ty card,” Ram­di­al said.

• Con­tin­ues on page 6

Ear­li­er in the day, tas­sa drums rolled and par­ty flags flew high as the slate backed by Per­sad-Bisses­sar ar­rived at the par­ty’s elec­tions head­quar­ters at the Ram­per­sad Build­ing.

Sup­port­ers shout­ed: “One leader, one par­ty! UNC and proud!”

A source said Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal, who con­test­ed the post of po­lit­i­cal leader twice and lost, had joined the Per­sad-Bisses­sar slate and filed a nom­i­na­tion for the deputy po­lit­i­cal leader spot. Al­so fil­ing nom­i­na­tions for this post were Jear­lean John and David Lee. Dave Tan­coo, the MP for Oropouche West, has filed for the post of par­ty chair­man while Khadi­jah Ameen filed for vice-chair­man.

Speak­ing to the me­dia af­ter fil­ing, Ameen dis­pelled spec­u­la­tion that the elec­tions process was un­fair.

“The UNC has a one-man-one-vote de­mo­c­ra­t­ic sys­tem, where every per­son who is a mem­ber of UNC is al­lowed to be a can­di­date for any po­si­tion of the na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive. Every UNC mem­ber is al­lowed to vote. It is a healthy de­mo­c­ra­t­ic process,” she said.

She added: “To­day, you will see the nom­i­nees com­ing in and I want to de­clare that I have put in a nom­i­na­tion for deputy chair­man of the par­ty.”

She al­so de­clared her sup­port for Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

Mean­while, Anil Roberts and Ravi Rati­ram, who are con­test­ing the po­si­tions of North East Re­gion­al Co­or­di­na­tor and Par­ty Or­ga­niz­er re­spec­tive­ly, al­so de­clared their sup­port for Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

Rati­ram said: “I sup­port Kam­la. I am nom­i­nat­ed as UNC par­ty or­gan­is­er.”

Roberts al­so brought in Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment MP Camille Robin­son-Reg­is in­to the elec­tion fray, say­ing: “Camille Robin­son-Reg­is, you farse and out of place. Don’t at­tack Kam­la Sushilla Per­sad-Bisses­sar be­cause she stands firm as the leader of UNC. You try to clap at the la­dy, but she clap back twice and mash you up, come dong from dey Camille. Come dong from dey.”

Vas­ant Bharath, who al­so con­test­ed the post of po­lit­i­cal leader against Per­sad-Bisses­sar in the last elec­tion, had sig­nalled his in­ten­tions ear­li­er not to go up against Per­sad-Bisses­sar this time around. He said he had no in­ten­tion of le­git­imis­ing the “sham elec­tions,” not­ing that the par­ty’s con­sti­tu­tion is not be­ing up­held.

Bharat said his fa­ther, who was a found­ing mem­ber of the UNC, was de­nied a right to vote in the last elec­tions.

The UNC elec­tions of­fi­cers said last night that they will dis­close a full re­port of all nom­i­nees with­in the com­ing weeks.

Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar slate:

Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar - Po­lit­i­cal leader

Jear­lean John - Deputy po­lit­i­cal leader

David Lee - Deputy po­lit­i­cal leader

Roodal Mooni­lal - Deputy po­lit­i­cal leader

Dave Tan­coo - Chair­man

Khadi­jah Ameen - Vice-chair­man

Sean Sobers - Pol­i­cy & strat­e­gy

Van­dana Mo­hit - Ed­u­ca­tion of­fi­cer

Sad­dam Ho­sein - Re­search of­fi­cer

Don Sylvester - Elec­tion of­fi­cer

Neil Go­sine - Trea­sur­er

Ravi Rat­ti­ram - Par­ty or­gan­is­er

Nicholas Mor­ris - In­ter­na­tion­al af­fairs of­fi­cer

Shan­ty Boodram - South re­gion­al co­or­di­na­tor

Bar­ry Padarath - Cen­tral re­gion­al co­or­di­na­tor

Eli Za­k­our - North West re­gion­al co­or­di­na­tor

Anil Roberts - North East re­gion­al co­or­di­na­tor

Tahar­qa Obi­ka - To­ba­go re­gion­al co­or­di­na­tor