Warner keeps out of UNC business

In a frank and exclusive interview with Sunday Newsday, St Joseph MP Gerald Yetming charged that Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar was leading a campaign within the party to prevent St Augustine MP Winston Dookeran from succeeding Basdeo Panday as UNC political leader. Yetming charged that Persad-Bissessar was the author of a letter asking for the party’s executive elections to be postponed from September 18 to October 2, and was part of a "small group of selfish MPs" that was putting self-interest ahead of the good of the UNC.

During and immediately after Panday’s incarceration in June, Warner issued repeated calls for unity and reconciliation within the party, and even for former UNC members (like Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj) and estranged ones (Independent UNC MPs Dr Fuad Khan and Gillian Lucky) to be drawn back into the party.

When asked yesterday to deliver a few remarks at the opening of the India-Caricom economic forum at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya, Warner told his audience that he wanted to maintain a dignified silence, particularly at a time when people are saying so many negative things.

The FIFA vice-president said he was out of the country on business and did not wish to make any elaborate comments about any particular subject. However, Warner did say that he would like to see an Indian national football team accompany the business delegations to Trinidad and Tobago in order to foster greater sporting ties between the region and India.

Warner called on India’s minister of state for commerce and industry, EVKS Elangovan, and the assembled Indian businessmen to have a game of football when next they come to the Caribbean for business, so that their visit would serve a dual purpose.