Calypsonians to move no confidence motion against TUCO’s president

TROUBLE IS brewing within the ranks of the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) with a group of disgruntled calypsonians set to move a motion of no confidence against President Michael Legerton (Protector) as early as next Thursday.

Sources within the organisation told Newsday support has been building over the past few days for a plan to unseat Legerton and replace him with a former President of the organisation, defeated United National Congress (UNC) candidate Winston Peters (Gypsy). The plan is reportedly being spearheaded by several calypsonians who are upset over the judging in this year’s National Calypso Monarch and Calypso King and Queen competitions. They have been drumming up support among other members of the fraternity, mostly cast members of TUCO tents who have not been paid for the past three weeks. Well placed sources said a special meeting will be held immediately after Carnival at a venue to be announced to initiate moves to change the leadership of the calypso body.

Legerton was elected President of TUCO last June, taking over from Seadly Joseph (Penguin) at the helm of an organisation plagued with financial and other problems. To add to TUCO’s troubles, this year’s competitions have been plagued with controversy with several prominent calypsonians who did not make it past the preliminaries questioning the quality of the judging. One of them, former Calypso Monarch Cro Cro (Weston Rawlins) went so far as to camp out at TUCO’s offices at the Queen’s Park Savannah demanding to see the score sheets. He reportedly sought legal advice after failing to obtain the score sheets which, according to insiders, are nowhere to be found. Trouble is also brewing among cast members in three TUCO-run tents who have been unable to collect their weekly wages. Newsday understands that several calypsonians attached to Klassic Ruso, Kaiso Karavan and Kaiso Showkase have not been paid by the cash strapped organisation for the past three weeks.

In addition, TUCO stills owes $60,000 to Iwer George as a result of an out of court settlement over the Road March fiasco of 2001. However, it has not been all downhill for TUCO. Some members of the executive intercepted a plan to produce duplicate tickets for last weekend’s very successful Calypso Fiesta at Skinner Park, San Fernando. Tight security measures were put in place, including special markings to identify valid tickets. As a result, the venture yielded a profit of over $200,000, much more than was realised last year when there was a much larger crowd at the event. Peters, the man tipped to take over from Legerton if the no confidence motion succeeds, has served on the executive of TUCO at the highest level for several terms. In fact, he was holding the position of Vice President when he was recruited by the United National Congress (UNC) in 2000 to run for the Ortoire/Mayaro seat. However, his stint as a Member of Parliament was relatively brief and he was defeated in last October’s General Election by People’s National Movement (PNM) candidate Franklyn Khan.