Panday should give Ramnath his due respect

When Mr Panday speaks of forgiving someone like Kelvin Ramnath I am left in awe and disbelief. The track record of Mr Ramnath will prove that he was the most vibrant and successful General Secretary in the history of the party.

It was because of his tenacity for hard work and leadership that Mr Ramnath built institutions in the party and it was for this said reason more than anything else that he was fired from office. It is public knowledge that Mr Panday is always suspicious of structures in political institutions. The history of the UNC will vindicate Mr Ramnath. Together with Dr Rampersad Parasram and Trevor Sudama they gave birth to Club 88, the forefather of the UNC.

It was the very said Winston Dookeran, Ganga Singh, Roy Augustus and others from the then NAR who threw out Messrs — Panday, Ramnath, Sudama and others out of the party in 1988.

It was from these ashes that the UNC was born mainly through the efforts, expertise and guidance of Mr Ramnath.

To his great credit when Mr Ramnath was ejected from the party in 1991 by Mr Panday he never formed any other political party, he remained with the UNC. One could remember while out of mainstream politics Mr Ramnath was a constant defender of the UNC appearing on television and radio talk shows and at times on the platform of many candidates contesting both national and local government elections.

It is therefore quite puzzling to hear the sentiments of Mr Panday forgiving Mr Ramnath.

I think Mr Panday should stop forgiving Mr Ramnath and gave him the due respect he deserves as a senior politician and one of his most trusted lieutenants.

SHANTI SINGH

Marabella