NACTA poll under scrutiny

THE EDITOR: The timing and results of the recent NACTA poll are passing strange. Even more uncanny is that various aspects of the poll were published in the three dailies over a period of a week, and not one of the dailies published the poll in its entirety.

Perhaps this is an indication that the media brigade of the unholy alliance are closing ranks and rallying the troops in a final coup d’grace against the political party they hold in disdain, and which is now in opposition. Nevertheless, the so called findings of the poll must have brought cheerful glee into the hearts of many. Once more, they are in a delirium of joy as they were on the night of October 7, 2002. Meanwhile, NACTA has succeeded in throwing a murky mantel of gloom on all UNC followers. NACTA would have us believe that the anti-Panday invectives over the years, intended to besmirch his character, have taken root in the hearts of the most loyal UNC supporters. They have been inculcated by the unholy alliance that the former Prime Minister and his party are the bane of our nation. However, it appears that the weak hearted have become numb because it seems no one can smell the aroma of balisier coffee emanating from the NACTA office.

Was the fickleness of public opinion taken into consideration by NACTA so that a scientific, logical margin of error could be determined? Why did none of the daily newspapers publish the details and intricacies of the poll along with pie charts, graphs, and tables? The integrity of the individuals who interviewed the respondents should also be considered. There must be some assurance that they were not influenced by those who share a common rancour and never miss an opportunity to inveigh against the UNC and its leader. Surely a more appropriate poll should have been conducted on the leadership of the PNM and the quality of governance over the last fourteen months. The PNM now reigns supreme over the present parlous state of national affairs, while our country experiences extreme turbulence daily. NACTA should have done a more relevant poll on Mr Manning, with his veneer of holiness, his gaffes, his arrogance. Instead Mr Bisram chose to focus on the leadership of the UNC which is a non-issue at the moment and which, in any case, will be settled in June by the UNC membership.

Notwithstanding the accuracy of past NACTA polls, this recent one is spurious. It is obviously a fiendish, sinister plot to demoralise the Indo population and break their fragile spirits, while the ultimate, lustful aim is to grind the UNC into the dust of history. This poll deserves the same fate as that loathsome contract the brave doctors so rightly burned last month. It should be drenched in kerosene and put to the match.
WARD (Women Against Racism and Dictatorship) Shivanna Dipnarine, Anna Lisa Basoo, Sharon Zainab, Julie Bickram, Aasha Naphtali, Kavita Ramnarinesingh, and Kassandra Bell.

SHIVANNA DIPNARINE
Vistabella
San Fernando