Ramesh extends olive branch to Panday

FORMER Attorney-General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj yesterday called upon Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday to join him in a new crusade to champion the cause of sugar workers. Commenting on the findings of Sunday’s NACTA poll which said Panday’s political demise was cemented because the United National Congress (UNC) did nothing over the last six years to secure the interests of sugar workers, Maharaj told Newsday it was not too late for Panday and the UNC to join with him to help former Caroni (1975) Limited workers and he “would like to extend an invitation to them.”

However the former AG said it was “laughable” for Panday to blame the current predicament of sugar workers on himself, Trevor Sudama and Ralph Maraj. Maharaj recalled that while the UNC was in government, he was one of several persons within the Cabinet who agitated consistently for the problems at Caroni to be addressed. “Mr Panday did not have time at that time for sugar workers,” he said. Maharaj added that it was Panday who dismissed him (Sudama and Maraj), called general elections in 2001 and who together with the UNC’s financiers believed “the absence of us (Maharaj, Sudama and Maraj)” would help the party win those elections. He explained that against that background, there was no way that he, Sudama or Maraj could have helped the People’s National Movement (PNM) oust the UNC from government or be responsible for what happened to sugar workers.  “I feel very sorry for Mr Panday,” the former AG stated. On the issue of land distribution, Maharaj agreed with Panday that the PNM had plans to divide Caroni’s lands amongst friends and supporters of the ruling party. Similar to Panday, Maharaj also claimed to have information to that effect. “There seems to be a conspiracy in the allocation of Caroni’s lands,” he said. Agriculture Minister John Rahael has dismissed allegations of any improper distribution of Caroni lands as a figment of the UNC leader’s imagination.