Basdeo Panday’s Address to the National Assembly

Basdeo Panday’s Address to the National Assembly 
Saturday August 19, 2006 @ Rienzi Complex

My Dear friend Sir James Mitchell, Members at the Head Table, My Sisters and Brothers all,


I am sure that you are all aware that since my return from abroad in July of this year I have been making desperate efforts to heal the wounds in the Party and to bring the contending sides together. The problems in the Party began with the elections of the National Executive of the Party last year. It was an election in accordance with the Party Constitution to elect the leadership of the UNC. All members of the Party know that when we joined the UNC we solemnly agreed to abide by the Party’s Constitution. We are the only Party in this Part of the world in which the Leadership is elected by the rank and file of the membership on the basis of one-man-one-vote. No other political party can boast of this depth of democracy.

During that election we handed over on a platter to Winston Dookeran the Political Leadership of the Party by persuading the membership not to put a candidate against him. I myself signed his nomination form. I also submitted my nomination for the post of Chairman of the Party which post also went uncontested. This latter fact seemed to have caused much concern among Mr. Dookeran and those around him insisted that I leave the political scene all together. Since it appeared that I was not doing so this resulted in two slates for the election, which in itself is not a bad thing. That is the nature of democracy; it gives the people a chance to choose their leaders. The problem began when the Dookeran slate lost the elections and they refused to accept the democratic will of the members of this Party.

Mr. Dookeran refused to work with the newly elected Executive and began setting up a parallel organization, operating as a party within the Party. This of course led to a widening gap between the two factions in the Party and that has given rise to the situation we have today. Of course, the PNM financiers saw this as a golden opportunity to ensure a victory for the PNM and began financing the Dookeran faction, not because they wanted him to win but because they wanted to keep the division in the UNC which would ensure a PNM victory.

Having handed over on a silver platter the Political Leadership of the Party to Winston last year, I was forced in April of this year to relinquish the post of Leader of the Opposition when the PNM hierarchy interfered with the Magistrate in my trial by threatening to charge him with corruption if he did not send me to jail. The post of Leader of the Opposition then became vacant. The post of Leader of the Opposition is, by law, filled by an election among the Opposition members in the House of Representatives. You cannot hand over that post to anyone. It is not a bag of sweets you can hand over to any Tom, Dick or Harrylal. The majority of the members of the Opposition in the House must love you and respect you enough to elect you. When the PNM maliciously deprived me of that post the Opposition members of the House elected Kamla Persad Bissessar as Leader of the Opposition---while I was in jail. Winston was so angry that he was not chosen he left the front bench of the Opposition in Parliament and went on the back bench. I suppose that was yet another example of integrity and democracy. He felt I should have influenced the members of select him instead of Kamla, even though I was in jail. So much for integrity and the respect for democracy. 

On May 1, 2006, speaking through my daughter, Mickela, at a public meeting at Felicity I informed our supporters that I had tendered my resignation as Chairman of the Party and was leaving electoral politics for another and higher kind of politics. In so doing I promised that come what may I shall never abandon you.

So today, I address you as a man with no office…not Prime Minister, not Political Leader, not Leader of the Opposition, not Chairman of the Party; not even a functioning Member of Parliament; in fact I address you as a nobody. I have no office and I crave none. I repeat: I have no office and I desire none.

It is against this background that I began the task of trying to unite the Party, the United National Congress, the UNC, the Party to which we gave birth eighteen (18) years ago; the Party to which we have given so much of our blood, sweat and tears to give birth, to nurture and sustain; the Party they are trying to destroy because they cannot control it completely. Those who were defeated in the election were saying that the other side ( the side that won) must had over the Party to them lock, stock and barrel. Hand it over they say, as if it were a cow or a mule; take the end of the rope which is tied around the Party’s neck and hand it over to those who were in the bosom of the NAR trying to kill the UNC baby as we were trying to give birth and life to it. Hand it over, they say, pointing a gun at our heads. If you don’t hand it over, lock stock and barrel there will be no unity; that is there threat. They don’t care if the PNM wins. My Sisters and Brothers, I can now understand why they have no love, no feeling for the UNC; they did not feel the pain of giving birth to it, of nurturing it, of seeing it grow from a child into a strapping young man of 18 years.

Those who speak of handing over the Party belong to the old school of politics. They are remembering how Bhadase Sagan Maharaj handed over the PDP to Rudranath Caplideo who turned it into the DLP. I have been trying my damnest to find out how to hand over this Party to anyone, assuming that I could. We handed over the political leadership of the UNC on a platter; the Political Leader refuses to work with the Executive, calling it a cabal. You disrespect the members of this Party when you referred to their elected representatives as cabal. We are told that we should now hand over the Leader of the Opposition. Don’t they know that no one in the Party can hand over the leadership of the Opposition to anyone? That is an Office created by the national Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago that says how the Leader of the Opposition is appointed; that is the function of our members of Parliament. What more do you want in order to unite the Party? What more do we have to give you? 

Brothers and Sisters, this reminds of the story of the man who was wandering in the streets. You call him in and gave him a lodging. A few weeks later he wants his own room; you give him his own room. A few months later he says he wants the whole house; you give him the house. And when he gets the house he says: now what about wife and your children?. He wants that too.

As part of my attempts to unite the Party I attended the joint Conference of the Women’s and Youth Arm of the Party on Saturday, July 22, and succeeded in getting them to postpone a motion of no-confidence in the Political Leader which they had on the Agenda, pleading for time to allow me to meet with Mr. Dookeran to find out what he wants in order to agree to unite the Party. On Monday July 24, I got in touch with Winston and we met for the first time on Tuesday 25. At that meeting nothing substantial was achieved. I tried to get from him specific details of what he wanted. Try as I may I could not pin him down to anything specific. If you know Winston you will know what I mean; he never gives you a straight answer. From that meeting I gathered that he was saying that issue was not unity but leadership; that the duality of leadership was causing a problem; that I was trying to lead the Party from outside; that he must allowed to lead (I asked who was stopping him, to which I got no answer, of course); that he must be given the uncontrolled right to decide on any matter in the Party; that he must be supported on everything he wishes to do even if others do not agree with him. By that I understood him to mean that he was insisting that he be made Leader of the Opposition in addition to being Political Leader; that I must exit the political scene completely and irrevocably; that he must have total and absolute control of the Party. I requested that we put what we had talked about in writing so that there could be not dispute as to what was said at the meeting. I even suggested that we tape the proceedings. He refused. The only thing we agreed upon was that we should meet again. That was Tuesday 25. 

I did not hear from him on Wednesday, Thursday Friday. I called him several times on the telephone but was unable to reach him until he returned my call on Friday about 6.00 pm saying he wanted the week-end to ponder over the matter and we would meet the following week. We did not meet again until the 9th August. In the meantime I attended the National Congress of the Party on the Sunday 30th July and again persuaded them not to pursue the motion of no-confidence in the Political Leader, all in the cause of uniting the Party.

At our meeting on the 9th the pattern of discussion was similar to our first meeting. I could get nothing definite or precise from him. Instead of going through the details of that meeting let me read to you a letter which I wrote to Mr. Dookeran following that meeting.

Sunday 13 August, 2006

Dear Winston,

For the purposes of the record I would like to put in writing what transpired at our unity meeting on Wednesday last, August 9.

You emphasised that the meeting was not about unity but about leadership. I tried to get you to be more specific as to what exactly that meant but was unsuccessful. However, from our conversation I gathered that your demands for any kind of unity were as follows:

1. You must be acknowledged as the undisputed, supreme and absolute leader of the Party and be allowed to lead. By that you meant that you must get the full support of everyone in the Party for everything you did or proposed to do even if they did not agree with you.
2. You will not work with the present lawfully elected National Executive of the Party because they have insulted you. You did not state what is to be done with them given the provisions of the Party’s Constitution.
3. I (Basdeo Panday) must ensure that you be made Leader of the Opposition, even though this was a post which was filled by election among the Opposition members of Parliament.
4. I (Basdeo Panday) must distance myself from all and any kind of political activity; you will determine what role I play, if any. But in any case I must give you my absolute support in anything you do.

I told you that I was of view that the issue was unity if we are to confront the PNM successfully in the next elections. Our supporters knew this and they were crying out for unity. But if leadership was your problem then I proposed the following as a transitionary measure:

I proposed that we set up a Leadership Council made up of a core consisting of Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Winston Dookeran, the two other Deputy Political Leaders—Jack Warner and Wade Mark-- Dr Tim Gopeesingh, the Party’s Chief Executive Officer, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, with power to co-opt other members from time to time as they see fit.

The function of the Leadership Council would be to run the Party, building its strength and mobilizing its forces to take us to victory in the next elections. 

Since what really appeared to be the critical question: “Who will be the Prime Minister in the event that we should win the elections?”, I proposed that before the General Elections are held a Special Assembly of the Party would elect him/her on the basis of one-man-one-vote. The membership would have had an opportunity to observe the leadership at work and will determine who, in their view, is the best person to lead the country. Nothing could be more democratic.

You indicated that you wanted time to think about my proposal. Surely you have had enough time.

I shall be honored if you would confirm that the above represents an accurate account of our meeting. If there are any errors, omissions or corrections please be good enough to so indicate in writing so that there can be no misunderstanding as to what was said.

I also expect a response to my proposal. 

With Best Wishes,
Basdeo Panday

On August 18, I received from Winston the following reply.

That reply gives you some indication of what I had to endure during our talks. My letter was very specific: it said this was my impression of what transpired at the meetings. It also went on to say that if my impressions were wrong please state what is the factual position. That is all I ask: please tell me specifically what we have to do to bring about unity in the Party. Not a word about that. 

There is another matter to which I would have preferred to make no reference here today, but since they sought to make the contents of that meeting public through the media I think I ought not to ignore it completely. I refer to the meeting at the Maha Sabha Headquarters on Thursday last under the Chairmanship of Dr Vijay Naraynsigh which made the front page of several newspapers yesterday.

On or about Tuesday or Wednesday of last week I received a call from Dr Narinesingh inviting me to a meeting at the Maha Sabha H.Q. on Thursday August 17. I asked him what it was about and he said it was a meeting of the leaders of several Hindu organisations which wanted to bring me up to date on the feelings of hurt that the Hindus are experiencing in the present situation. Having regard to the biased stand that a certain newspaper had been taking against I sensed a set up and a trap; yet agreed to attend. At that meeting I was told that some 28 Hindu organisations were represented. I am not sure on whose behalf they were speaking, what mandate they had, if any, or was it just their personal views. Some of them began asking me questions and I replied by saying that I did not come there to be cross-examined but to hear what they had to say. They persisted in their cross-examination and I decided to allow myself to subjected to the humiliation which had obviously been prepared for me by some of them (not all). I answered as best I could. Several views were expressed for which I thanked them. I kept asking them what they think I should do to bring about unity in the Party; they did not choose to answer then but preferred the newspapers do so the following day. Only one person was specific, and that was Mr. Deokienanan Sharma of SPIC. He said he had spoken to Mr. Dookeran some time ago as to what he wanted in order to bring about unity in the Party and he wrote down what Mr. Dookeran had said. He gave me a piece of paper which I read to you now.

If that were the case it would have been the simplest thing in the world for Winston to tell me that when we met and/or confirm it in writing in his later letter to me…But I shall have more to say about that when I visit the villages and the blocks during in the next few months and interface with the people who really matter. I have asked the Chairman of the Maha Sabha meeting, Dr Vijay Narinesingh, for a list of the groups represented at that meeting together with the names of their representatives so that I could determine whether the views expressed were their own or of the people they purported to represent. This I thought was very important. You will recall that in Guyana the leadership of the Maha Sabha sold out to Burnham and Hoyte, but the rank and file masses of the Hindu population supported Cheddi Jagan’s PPP. Even our own Maha Sabha leaders invited Desmond Hoyte to Trinidad and referred to him and Lord Shiva. But I shall have more to say on this matter as my colleagues from the UNC and I tour the constituencies shortly.

In spite of all that I have said I still ask you not to pursue this motion of no-confidence in the Political Leader. Our people are crying out for unity and we must do all in our power to bring it about. History must never accuse us of not doing all in our power to bring about unity no matter how long it takes. We must be prepared to suffer the greatest insults and provocation; the worst abuse and humiliation. We must display the patience of Job, the Wisdom of Solomon, and the courage of an Elijah; we must exercise the tenacity and wisdom of the Prophet (peace be upon Him), the strength of Hanuman and the humility of a Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Instead of pursuing this motion of no-confidence I humbly and respectfully suggest that the General Secretary send a formal invitation to the Political Leader, Mr. Winston Dookeran, inviting him to attend the next meeting of the National Executive of the Party and to participate fully therein, raising his hopes, fears and aspirations in person and seeking their support in his plans. I also suggest the he be informed of the rules and Constitution of the Party, emphasizing of the rules and Constitution of the Party; that he be reminded that when he joined this Party he solemnly agreed to abide by the Constitution. A man of absolute integrity and principles will surely recognize that he is so bound. If the Political Leader still refuses to attend the National Executive and/or to be an integral part of the Party then follow then my advice is to follow the provisions of the Constitution as it is your duty to do regardless of where the chips fall.

As to the lesser of the two major issues raised here today, that is to say, my return to the Chairmanship of the Party, let me defer that matter for the time being. Let me instead demonstrate to you and others that you do not need office do your duty. Many people, especially power-hungry people, crave office because they equate office with power; they fail to distinguish between office and power. So when they get one office and they realise they still do not have the power they expected they want another office, and then another and another and so on. They do not realise that power does not come from office but from the personality of the holder of that office, and very on the charisma of the leader himself whether he holds office or not. Real power comes from the people when they love you and trust you; and they will love you and trust you when you live with them in the trenches, when suffering with them as they suffer over many years you build an unbreakable bond of love and friendship and empathy. Power is not something you pick off a tree or find on the ground; it is not something that you can hand over like a cow or a mule. Those who today so desperately seek power have never been in the trenches with you; that is why they have no real power; that is why they seek power from office and not from the love of the people.

So I plead with you spare me the indignity of office, at least for the time being. I promise you that, God willing, if it becomes imperative in the interest of the Party and the people that I must assume the Chairmanship, or any other post for that matter, I shall unhesitatingly do so. In the meantime, I promise that I shall never abandon you. I shall always be with you for long as I live because I love you as much as you love me.

May God Bless You All.