‘UNC supporters deserve better’

In an exclusive interview with Sunday Newsday at his San Fernando law office, Maharaj said the existence of cliques within the UNC fold is nothing new. He warned that unless the party’s members vote for strong leadership in internal elections scheduled for October 2, the party would continue to weaken and it will be unable to defeat the PNM in any election.

"I found when I was there, you had cliques. The cliques can only be successful if the leadership of the party permit the cliques to hijack the party," he said.

Maharaj expressed the view that Panday was "encouraged by a few of his financiers" to get rid of the executive elected during the fateful internal UNC elections of June 2001. Maharaj, one of the more high profile members of the UNC at that time, lost his deputy political leader position during the fall out.

"What happened is the other persons in the party . . . the other ministers . . . did not stand up," he claimed.

"If those who are talking now had stood up, the party would have been saved. Those who were there and those who saw the party being hijacked, if they had stood up for the party and the membership that would not have happened."

The former AG added: "Some of them who are very talkative now were part and parcel of aiding and abetting the overthrow of the party’s constitution. The blame for the collapse of the UNC is not on one person — the leader or a few persons. It has to be acknowledged that the entire party machinery allowed it to happen."

Maharaj said it pained him to see the state of the party today, since he had toiled in the political vineyards to help the UNC win 13 seats in the 1991 elections, served as Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Representatives and the party’s policy/strategy officer and then worked with Panday to reform the UNC and create a new constitution which would have led the party into government.

Maharaj said around 1997 the UNC realised its political machinery was "getting weaker and weaker" and was in urgent need of repair. He said this fact was crystallised in the results of the 2000 general elections in which the UNC won 19 seats instead of the 22 seats it had been projected to win. Maharaj said this happened because the UNC’s machinery "did not function as it should have functioned from 1995 to 2000."

"After two years in government, UNC’s machinery stopped functioning," he explained.

Maharaj said when the UNC’s hierarchy realised the deteriorating state of its machinery in 2000, the decision was taken to hold internal elections. He said his team campaigned and won the party’s June 3, 2001, internal elections on a platform built upon the party’s founding principles of integrity, morality, accountable leadership and equity.

According to Maharaj, the new UNC executive "was never permitted to function" from the moment it entered office.

"I think the problem in the UNC really heightened when the hierarchy of the party did not accept the elections in which the people voted. They voted for an executive to transform the party to virtually create a new UNC. When that was obstructed, I think that is when the party started to have a spiral decline," he stated.

Maharaj claimed many of the political indignities he suffered up to and after his October 1, 2001, dismissal as Attorney-General, were the work of cliques within the party. However, even after that he had sought as a parliamentary backbencher (with Trevor Sudama and Ralph Maraj) to bring the UNC "back to its moorings". He explained that his reduced position allowed him to criticise the UNC in Parliament and vote against it, except on significant pieces of legislation.

On September 22, 2001, Maharaj dealt a major blow to the then UNC government during the 2001/2002 Budget debate in Parliament by declaring that the sale of Caroni (1975) Ltd’s rum division and Tanteak to CL Financial Ltd was "null and void and of no effect."

He claimed cliques in the UNC acted again when Panday "on the advice of some of the financiers of the party decided to call an election (in 2001) in order to permanently get rid of Ramesh and Trevor."

"We (UNC) had four years to go but Parliament was dissolved, election was called and the rest is history," he recalled.

"What is happening in the party now is really a process in which the party membership is trying to salvage the party," said Maharaj who added that while he was uncertain of the final outcome of events currently taking place in the opposition party, "it is very important for the UNC membership to recognise that unless it has a credible team to lead it and strong leadership it would not be able to stop Manning."

He said UNC members have the key in their hands to defeat the PNM "but they have to be prepared to make effective change in which the party would not only be credible but very strong."

Asked whether Dookeran could lead the party back into government, Maharaj said the St Augustine MP "has qualities which would be an asset to any political party" but this alone would not be enough to defeat the PNM. Talk within certain political circles suggest that a Dookeran-led UNC would be vulnerable to a political takeover and Dookeran may not be able to control certain elements within the party.

Maharaj hinted that allegations of corruption hanging over the heads of several former UNC government ministers remain a major obstacle to the party’s winning the next general election. Some political analysts have argued that the UNC may be best served if those individuals do not contest the next elections and play no role in UNC in the next election campaign.

"I make no apologies for the position that I took in government that where there are serious allegations of misconduct and corruption, the country needs to be appeased about those matters. Unless a government has integrity and morality, it is ultimately going to fail," Maharaj declared.

He expressed bitter disappointment at the way in which political parties say one thing in opposition but change their tune when they get into government.

"I left my law practice and made a hell of a lot of sacrifices to be in a movement to transform the politics of TT. I see that oppositions switch in government. The importance of politics is not persons but to transform the political culture of TT. You do not say things in opposition for saying it. If an opposition party is not credible, nothing it says will have any impact on the public’s mind," he said.

Despite all the injustices he suffered during the final years of the former regime, Maharaj said: "I have never allowed that pang of injustice to prevent me from continuing to love the UNC membership and to be prepared to work with a reformed and a credible UNC. I believe the UNC membership deserves better than what they got."

Asked whether he thought Panday was serious about stepping down as leader, or was just "playing dead to catch corbeaux alive", Maharaj said it was difficult to predict what his former leader’s plans were at this stage.

Some political insiders are predicting that on October 2, Panday will announce his intention to remain at the UNC helm for at least another year and will be unchallenged for the leadership post.

Dookeran has declined to comment on the current leadership problems in the party and has not given a clear answer as to whether he plans to contest the party’s top post.

However, Maharaj said the "cold hard truth" is that since Panday dismissed him and called elections in 2001, "the party has not been able to get into government."

He claimed every strategy employed by Panday and the UNC’s financiers to defeat the PNM has failed.

Maharaj also said the UNC still has not shown the population that they are a credible alternative to the PNM.

He said the opposition party needed to put fighters in Parliament, or else it would not attract the enthusiasm of its supporters, or attract new supporters. He claimed the PNM is currently at its lowest ebb but is able to continue in office because the UNC always lets them off the hook.

Asked if he would be willing to work with a Dookeran-led UNC, Maharaj reiterated that he would be willing to work with a reformed UNC but this would not stop him from his current mission to develop a new political vehicle for TT.

"I have had lots of experience in opposition politics. I really believe that if I have to go back into politics . . . I do not wish to go back into opposition politics," he stated.

Maharaj said many UNC supporters still believe a Panday-Maharaj partnership could still be effective.