President can remove Panday as Opposition Leader

President George Maxwell Richards has to assume that Basdeo Panday satisfies all the constitutional requirements for his continued hold of the position of Opposition Leader. That is, unless a majority of Opposition MPs write to the President and say that they support Winston Dookeran. This is the view of a premier constitutional expert. The expert pointed out that the two constitutional requirements that Panday had to satisfy were: one, that he is a member of the Parliament; and two, that he has the support of the persons in the Parliament who are opposed to the Government. Once he doesn’t lose that support, then he is fully entitled to remain in office.

The expert was commenting on the constitutional implications of having Dookeran as political leader of the UNC but Panday as Opposition Leader. The expert explained that from a constitutional standpoint, what happens within the UNC is  not a divisive factor in the appointment of an Opposition Leader. The source pointed out that the situation would have been different, had the position of the Prime Minister, been involved. Since, according to the Constitution, the President appoints as Prime Minister, the leader of the party in the House which commands the support of the majority  of MPs. This was one of the rare cases where the constitution recognises the party, the expert pointed out. But in the case of the Opposition Leader, there is no recognition of a party.

According to the constitution, “The President shall, if the person concerned is willing to be appointed, appoint as Leader of the Opposition, the member of the House of Representatives who, in his judgment, is best able to command the support of the greatest number of members of the House of Representatives, who do not support the Government.” The expert said that although Dookeran might be leader of the UNC, he may not yet command the support of the majority of people (from the Opposition) who are actually in the Parliament. And the fact that there may be  people outside of the Parliament who support Dookeran — even if it is a majority of the people  within the party — did not matter. The expert stated however that Dookeran could, once he assumes office as political leader of the UNC, write to the President and say ‘“I can assure you that I am the person now in control of the greatest number of  MPs in opposition.’

And the President would consider it and if that is so he should revoke the appointment of Panday and appoint Dookeran. But he (the President) would have to form the opinion that in fact Panday no longer commands the support of the majority of MPs in Opposition before revoking Panday’s appointment,” the expert said. Asked whether the President, in the light of what has happened in the UNC, could initiate his own inquiry to determine whether MPs have changed their allegiances, the expert said if the President thinks he should find this out, he was entitled to do so and to inquire into the whole matter — “summon MPs and ask questions (who they support) and so on.” But, the expert noted, the President could be justifiably accused of being “meddlesome.” “It would not be politic. What he should do is wait and hear from them,” he added.

The constitutional specialist pointed out that the UNC may well have its own arrangements. “It may be that as part of the bargain that Panday should remain Leader of the Opposition. Or it may not be... And it may be that once Dookeran is elected political leader (on October 2), he will have to count among the Opposition MPs to see how many support him. The fact that he is leader doesn’t mean that they all support him. Kamla (Persad-Bissessar) might not support him, and a lot of others might not support him and they might support Panday. So he has not automatically gotten the support of all the MPs (because he is to become political leader),” the expert said.

He said even if  the President got letters from  two or three UNC MPs stating that they supported Dookeran, he would be under no obligation to do any further consultation or to canvass the views of other MPs who have not written to him. If eight of the 16 MPs were to write to the President indicating that they supported Dookeran as their leader, what should be done? “If he had an eight/eight situation, he should not invoke the preamble to the Constitution. He would have to leave things as they are” (The preamble of the Constitution was used by former president Robinson to justify the changing of the status quo when he appointed Patrick Manning as Prime Minister in 2001).

The expert stated that even when there is an expression by the opposition MPs that they have changed their allegiances, the President would be “obligated to inquire and find out whether there is substance to what is being said. And  it would also depend on how it (the expression of changed allegiance) is framed. “When Ray Robinson was in opposition, he was playing games, switching between Panday and (Raffique) Shah. And, according to reliable sources, he wrote the President saying that he was supporting Shah for the post of Leader of the Opposition.

And the then President, (Sir Ellis Clarke) according to reliable sources  made it clear  that he didn’t want to know who supported whom for a particular position... and that what was required was for Robinson to come out in front of his constituents and say ‘that man (Shah) commands my support in the Parliament.’ It is not enough to tell the President that you support someone for Leader of the Opposition. You must say ‘so and so! commands my support in the Parliament,’” the expert explained. This would be the first time in the history of independent Trinidad and Tobago where within the same Parliament, there would be a political leader of the main opposition party who is not Opposition Leader.