Ani­ka Gumbs-San­di­ford

The ex­ec­u­tive chair­man of the Ur­ban De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (Ude­cott) Calder Hart was giv­en 24 hours to re­sign. The di­rec­tive, Sun­day Guardian learnt from a close rel­a­tive, came from the hi­er­ar­chy of the Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM). Sources said it might have fol­lowed Fri­day's court rul­ing by Madam Mi­ra Dean-Ar­mor­er against Ude­cott, mak­ing way for the Uff re­port to be made pub­lic. While the rel­a­tive said a top brass PNM mem­ber gave the di­rec­tive, it could not be con­firmed from par­ty sources whether Prime Min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning, who left for Lon­don hours af­ter Hart's res­ig­na­tion yes­ter­day, gave the in­struc­tions to step down. How­ev­er, top par­ty sources said such di­rec­tives "can on­ly come from the top."

A high-rank­ing mem­ber of the PNM said last night: "He had to go. He is an em­bar­rass­ment to the PNM. I do not know all the facts at this time, but I heard he was giv­en 24 hours to re­sign. "He has tar­nished the PNM, and it is not look­ing good for the par­ty at all. It was on­ly a mat­ter of time." An­oth­er long-stand­ing mem­ber of the par­ty said the move could be viewed as a dam­age con­trol plan at a time when dis­en­chant­ment with­in the par­ty need­ed to be quelled. "This move is big time. For sure, the di­rec­tive came from the top. Hart was a mover and a shak­er. In fact, he had more weight than some politi­cians. "The Prime Min­is­ter has re­peat­ed­ly said bring the ev­i­dence and let the chips fall where they may.

"He is on record as say­ing bring the ev­i­dence. If one is to com­pare the sit­u­a­tion to Franklin Khan, no one is too high to let go," the source said. Say­ing that the Ude­cott fi­as­co tar­nished the PNM, an­oth­er top par­ty source added that tough times called for tough de­ci­sions. "Pol­i­tics calls for you to make de­ci­sions on the spot, and once there is a weight around the par­ty's neck you have to chop. As a politi­cian, if he has to cut ties to sal­vage the par­ty he will cut. "While Hart might be the best on one side of the plan­et, the per­cep­tion is he is a weight around the neck of the par­ty. "The Prime Min­is­ter is on record as say­ing bring the ev­i­dence. The Uff re­port is go­ing to be made pub­lic, and it could be the open­ing of a can of worms."

Row­ley vin­di­cat­ed

The source, how­ev­er, said he was un­cer­tain whether the move came too late. "Peo­ple have al­le­ga­tions hang­ing over them and they are sent on sus­pen­sion. For what­ev­er rea­son, the Prime Min­is­ter stood at the side of Hart; but when wa­ter is more than flour you have to de­cide. "If the Prime Min­is­ter could swal­low his pride and em­brace the MP for Diego Mar­tin West back in­to the Cab­i­net, it will show great states­man­ship and crafts­man­ship. "Row­ley has been vin­di­cat­ed yet an­oth­er time. If the Prime Min­is­ter is bent on re­ly­ing on ev­i­dence, Row­ley should be brought back in­to the fold of the PNM. For a sec­ond time he has come out with broad shoul­ders; say­ing 'I told you so'."

Row­ley, reached yes­ter­day, said he had heard the ru­mour, but could not con­firm it.