Who rules the UNC?

That is not all. Up to last week the party had a dual leadership in the form of a Leader of the Opposition Basdeo Panday and the UNC political leader Winston Dookeran.

Events of the past week have only deepened the confusion.

Panday’s conviction for breaching the Integrity Act 1987 has for the moment required him under the National Constitution Section 48 to give up his parliamentary seat and with it his post of Leader of the Opposition.

The selection of Panday-loyalist Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar as Opposition Leader did not see an end to the confusion however, as Dookeran remains the Political Leader elected by the UNC membership unopposed.

Within days of getting bail and leaving jail, Panday lost no time in publicly criticising the actions of the House Speaker, Barry Sinanan, who had said the person who should appoint the Opposition Chief Whip is UNC Political Leader, Winston Dookeran, not Opposition Leader, Persad-Bissessar.

Already we see Mr Panday clearly not ready to relinquish his hold on the UNC even if such a hold is going to be behind the scenes so it seems that despite the cloud of a prison sentence hanging over his head a controversy has reinvigorated Panday to set foot into the political water and declare his position.

The paid press announcement for last night’s UNC rally in Felicity showed the speakers’ photographs in order of Panday first, despite the fact that he is neither Opposition Leader nor Political Leaders no longer holding any official position in the party, followed by an apparently-upstaged Persad-Bisssessar and three others.

So, with it being unclear whether Panday really has passed on the baton to Persad-Bissessar or whether he is just biding his time, it seems that the UNC has morphed yet again from being a double-headed creature, into now being a three-headed hydra, plus two Whips.

And to add to the mix, no-one knows the plans of St Joseph MP Gerald Yetming, Barataria/San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan, and Pointe-a-Pierre MP Gillian Lucky who reside on the Opposition benches but are not governed by its Whip, whoever that person may turn out to be. Adding to the confusion is the suggestion by Persad-Bissessar that there could be two Opposition Whips. So now the UNC leadership is comprised of Panday who for the moment is debarred but still talking tough, Persad-Bissessar who has been elected Opposition Leader and is making her voice loudly heard, Dookeran who is Political Leader and is also now talking out, and by the end of this week probably two Opposition Whips a grand total of five persons! Can such a scenario inspire confidence in the UNC?

It is difficult to understand much less to accept.