Dookeran calls for new politicians

He urged the UNC to expand. "We have to build an expansionist political platform for the people of this country. You can’t consolidate support without expansion."

He said the party had the best political brains in the country and Caribbean to guide it on an expansionist course. "We must open a new conversation in the politics of this country...We cannot capture the future with the menu of the past."

The UNC, he said, should become a vehicle for people disappointed with the PNM. "Let us create a new platform, a new conversation and a new comfort zone. Then it will have been worth my while re-entering politics."

He said he would support UNC leader Basdeo Panday to create opportunity for all in this land.

Dookeran began his talk by saying he had seen the emergence of a new UNC in the past few weeks, that was more confident than before and projecting beyond the bounds of its history. He asked people to ask themselves whether they feel good or bad about our country? He slammed the alleged loss of the independence and strength of the Judiciary. "Parliament has lost its trust - so much time and effort on an insignificant issue as a tea cup brawl when there are so many other issues. There’s a lack of priorities in the Parliament".

He criticised the Thursday post-Cabinet media conferences, saying: "The integrity of the process is no longer intact".

He said on such occasions the Government talked about what it would do on issues like crime, but then failed to act.

In a recent report, Dookeran said "The Competitiveness Report of the World" had said that political risk is fast increasing in Trinidad and Tobago. Saying this meant there was little social stability, he asked if Prime Minister Patrick Manning can manage the country’s social tensions.