WOMAN IS BOSS

Good for the MP for Pointe-a-Pierre! It was high time someone in the UNC caucus defended parliament’s tearoom attendant, Prabha Singh, unfortunate witness to the shouting match between Chandresh Sharma and Dr Keith Rowley, a woman vilified by a few spineless UNC men because she’s a woman and because she told the Privileges Committee exactly what she saw. It was also time that Chandresh Sharma was shown how fortunate he is the Privileges Committee, of which Lucky is a member, did not deal more harshly with him with regard to his evidence, though we are yet to see how the House of Representatives treats this silly MP who let others use him to construct out of a molehill, a political mountain.

Well done, Gillian Lucky for standing up to Basdeo Panday and for standing by your signature on the report of the Privileges Committee on the "tearoom brawl." If only the rest would follow your suit and let Panday know that there can be integrity in politics, tell him where to get off. The UNC leader is nothing but a millstone around the neck of his party and the nation.

I have oft described Panday as vampiric because he is busy draining the lifeblood of the UNC and because he appears unwilling to stop his blood-sucking until either he or the party is dead. I have further stated that the future of Trinidad and Tobago is less than bright if Panday is allowed much longer to keep his "fangs" buried in the UNC. Thanks to him, this Opposition will always lack credibility and will never be viewed as a Government in waiting when many of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago are desperate for one or the other or for both.

They are desperate because they are now led by a man who thinks statesmanship is the same thing as owning a private jet and moving into the Red House without either their say so or the blessing of the Parliament.

Desperate because their Prime Minister is a man who skips the Requiem Mass for Pope John Paul II, but who has no problem flirting with members of the Muslimeen, a man whose spiritual mentor is a character called Benny Hinn and a man who will only visit Pentecostal and Anglican churches, despite his vow to run an all-inclusive party and nation. Desperate because this Prime Minister’s wife, whom he appointed Education Minister, is daft and na?ve enough to publicly say she didn’t receive an invitation to the Mass and to thus, admit that matters of protocol escape her: the Catholic Church would not have invited the Prime Minister without inviting his spouse.

The people are desperate for a credible, strong Opposition because they are tired of waking up to news of not one, but two or three more murders and word of yet another kidnapping. They are fed up of having to live their lives behind burglar bars and looking over their shoulders. Meanwhile their National Secu-rity Ministers refuse to answer questions on crime, the senior one excusing himself by telling the media he is focusing on enjoying his family day and the junior even more arrogant, reportedly remarking that he has no time for "small talk" when asked about problems with the allocations of resources to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad.

Little wonder that PNM "deputy Prime Minister," Dr Lenny Saith had to admit at Thursday’s post-Cabinet briefing that the only people with crime plans are the criminals. You can say that again, Lenny!

The people are in dire need of a real Opposition because the new "boom" has brought old hardship. The supply of water and electricity is more irregular than ever. On some days many citizens are deprived of both. Food prices are so obscene; one is almost prompted to suggest that the drug dealers open supermarkets to launder their money. The people require a vibrant, honest Opposition to curb the growing arrogance, insensitivity and indifference of a PNM Govern-ment that is all these things because it is overconfident of electoral victory in 2007.

What Lucky’s stance means for the UNC and for Trinidad and Tobago is hard to say. Basdeo Panday has tried to downgrade the caucus showdown to "an internal party matter," but he must still be smarting from Lucky’s tongue-lashing and wondering how to "deal with her." He’ll have a hard fight though trying to oust her.

Lucky is right when she says she’s no Hulsie Bhaggan or Ramesh Maharaj. The first was too weak at a time when Panday was very strong and the second too mistrusted by his own.

Lucky is both tough and baggage-less.

And, what of the other UNC MPs? Will the ones who dare voice their disagreement with the UNC jefe only when he departs a room now openly challenge Panday’s misguided authority and that of his handful of minions, you know, the ones who are waiting for him to anoint them leader just before he passes on? Will the other UNC MPs at long last realise that by saying "no" to Panday, they have nothing to lose, but that by constantly doing his bidding, they forfeit their integrity? Or will it be dishonourable, self-serving business as usual, that is to say, will they continue to turn broken teacups into slaps?

suz@itrini.com