Stay focused to regain political power

"Do not fear for him because he himself has no fear," Mikela, who has just returned from England in a show of support for her imprisoned father, told a gathering at the UNC’s Couva North constituency office yesterday afternoon.

She urged UNC supporters to "keep focused" and refuse to be distracted by "peripheral matters" as the party sought to regain political power.

"The only way to fulfil our objective is to work for real political power. Only then will we be able to ensure the happiness of the people of this country and return them to the dignity and protection they crave," she said.

Mikela told the young activists that her dream of returning home remained "elusive" due to rising crime and unemployment.

Yesterday’s National Youth Congress, which was attended by top UNC officials, including Chief Whip Ganga Singh; Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma and UNC CEO, Dr Tim Goopiesingh, is the latest in a flurry of party mobilisation meetings that have been taking place since Panday’s arrest last week.

It came just hours after a public meeting in San Juan Friday night at which Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar challenged Attorney General John Jeremie’s statements on Panday’s arrest and detention. Persad-Bissessar said she disagreed with Jeremie’s account of the arrest.

"How could armed police go to Palmiste, yet you say you are giving him every chance to surrender?" she asked.

She claimed she had no knowledge of Jeremie’s assertion that the investigation into the case began under two former UNC AGs — Ramesh Maharaj and herself.

"John, I challenge you to show me where in any records in the AG’s office, that I carried, began, started, completed, or did any investigation in respect to Basdeo Panday."

She related that when she resumed the post of AG in October 2001, she could find no trace of the Bob Lindquist Report into the Piarco Airport Expansion. She had to write Lindquist for a copy of the report, which she said made no reference to Basdeo Panday or Oma Panday. Claiming there had been a plot to set bail to the high sum of $750,000 to stop Panday from attending Parliament and to force him to beg people for the money, she said Panday had instead proved smarter than his opponents.

Referring to a UNC motorcade to Golden Grove Prison planned for today, Persad-Bissessar said she had already received police permission.