Mark blanks Yetming on CCJ

UNITED National Congress chairman Wade Mark yesterday said he was not interested in the position St Joseph MP Gerald Yetming takes when legislation to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) comes before Parliament in September.

That legislation requires a special majority for passage and Government would have to gain the support of at least four Opposition MPs. Prime Minister Patrick Manning indicated last Thurs-day that he planned to canvass UNC MPs individually to get support for the legislation. Yetming told Newsday on Monday that he believes that the UNC’s strategy of refusing to support the court needs to be revisited by the party’s parliamentary caucus. However Mark said he was uninterested in whatever decision Yetming takes on the CCJ. The UNC chairman stated that the party’s main priority was rebuilding itself following last month’s Local Government Elections, which it lost to the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM). He disclosed that UNC Elections Officer Dr Tim Gopeesingh is now heading a revamped constitution commission and will begin a series of meetings next week with the party’s regional groups as to how the UNC’s constitution should be reformed.

The UNC chairman was optimistic that this process will be completed by De-cember. The party’s internal elections are scheduled to be held either in December or early 2004. On Monday, UNC Political Leader Basdeo Panday was uncertain whether he would stand for re-election and declined to say who among the UNC’s current cadre of parliamentarians could be a likely successor to him. Since October 2002, Panday has expressed his desire to retire from active politics at age 70 but has stressed that he would not abandon the UNC in mid-stream because the party would be vulnerable to political “predators”. Panday identified former UNC deputy leader Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj as one such predator.