Panday unveils his slate of candidates

Missing from yesterday’s presentation of candidates for the UNC’s internal elections, however, was the incoming Political Leader, Winston Dookeran.

Asked what would be Winston Dookeran’s relationship to the Panday slate, Panday said that question would better be put to Dookeran.

He said Dookeran like all other Members of Parliament and Local Government representatives were invited to the launch of his (Panday’s) slate of candidates, which took place at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel.

Dookeran told Newsday that he was invited but "couldn’t make it."

Dookeran is due to be the feature speaker at today’s launch of the other slate of candidates — UNC Progressives — at the Chaguanas Senior Comprehensive School at 2 pm. Nominee for Vice Chairman, Gerald Yetming, will chair these proceedings.

Dookeran said he would also be speaking at the second launch of the Panday team on Monday at the Couva auditorium.

Appearing to be charting new territory, Dookeran said he was prepared to speak on the platform of any contestant. Put another way, he would operate as a man for all seasons — or better still, for all candidates.

At yesterday’s launch it was noteworthy that all the speakers paid homage and heaped praise on chairman-designate Panday.

Panday was asked if the new UNC Political Leader would have the same unfettered power and undisputed control of the party which he (Panday) enjoyed while he was at the party’s helm.

Panday said the constitution vested people with power. "But having said that, the leader, the quality and strength of the leader really defines his office eventually," he said.

Did he have confidence in Dookeran’s ability to mount an effective challenge to the PNM, or did he believe that Dookeran needed his (Panday’s) over-arching guidance and counsel? Panday said he believed that Dookeran had the ability to wage a successful and effective challenge to the PNM. But "all leaders- even when I was there — need the support of everybody around them. And that is my function to assist the Political Leader, and to assist the party to take the government," he said, to applause.

Asked if it was anomalous to have the Chairman and not the Political Leader leading a slate, and also to have another (opposing) slate supportive of the Political Leader, Panday said: "In this party — not the PNM — we say the highest of the high and the lowest of the low have an equal right to aspire to the highest political office. Not in the PNM, because in the end who decides? (In our party) It is the membership. And anybody can lead a slate. And they have a right to do that. And the people have a right to vote for who they believe would run the party in the best way?"

He said to the uninitiated these would appear as anomalies, but in a true democracy, these things were a complementary part of the process. He stressed that the election was not a battle and that those on the other slate were not our "enemies" but "our colleagues."

On the question of whether he would be relinquishing the post of Opposition Leader, he said the election of an executive, in accordance with the constitution of the UNC, had nothing to do with the position of Opposition Leader, which was determined by the national Constitution.

Asked why he handed over the reins of leadership, Panday said he believed that he was getting on in age. He said the time had come for him to clear the way for younger blood. But at the same time he did not want to give the impression that he was turning his back on the people who supported him for 40 years.