As the country awaits the announcement of the date for the 2015 general election, constitutionally due no later than September 17, two member units of the PP Government – the UNC and COP – had both scheduled separate fund-raiser events on the same date and at the same venue in Chaguanas this weekend.
The T&T Guardian was informed that the Congress of the People (COP) had scheduled a fund-raiser dinner for tomorrow, between 6 pm and 9 pm at Kampo Restaurant, Chaguanas, and the UNC scheduled a similar fund-raiser dinner for the same venue on the same day from 7.30 pm.
Several members of the two parties expressed concern about the development.
The COP was said to have been granted permission for its event before the UNC. The cost for the COP dinner was $1,000, while the UNC's dinner is costing $2,500 a plate.
Sources said an email was sent to COP MPs and other party members yesterday indicating that the party had decided to postpone its dinner to allow for a larger event to take place at the same venue.
The email did not mention any details about the larger event and no mention was made of the UNC in the email. The COP email said the decision to postpone its dinner was done in the best interest of all concerned.
Political Leader of the COP, Legal Affairs and Justice Minister Prakash Ramadhar, was expected to be one of the main speakers at the event.
And while the UNC dinner was not billed as a UNC event, sources say it was being organised by the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led party. The invitation says: Join us (for) five years of unprecedented delivery."
The move, however, was seen as one of tremendous inconvenience to COP members who would have been selling tickets for the event. No new date has as yet been determined for the COP dinner.