‘Clear and overt links to PNM’

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday has called on President George Maxwell Richards to revoke three recent appointments to the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC). In a letter which was read to the media by Deputy Political Leader Wade Mark at a press conference yesterday, Panday said the basis of his call for revocation of the appointments was that all of the persons had “clear and overt links” to the ruling PNM. He added that this did not augur well for the building of public confidence and trust in the integrity and independence of the EBC. Members of the EBC are appointed by the President after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Panday’s letter, which was delivered to the President on Friday, traced what he viewed as the transformation of the EBC. He pointed out that in 2003 “an EBC stalwart” Lance Murray was replaced by Kenneth Lynch, “a top official in the first Patrick Manning administration during the period 1991-1995”. The letter did not specify what was the position Lynch held. Panday then noted that in May 2005, “having failed to renew the appointment of Raoul John, one of the members of the Commission who stoutly resisted attempts by the PNM to intimidate and terrorise the EBC, Your Excellency elected to appoint one Mrs Corinne Baptiste-McKnight,” a former ambassador. Panday said of the “greatest alarm” was the appointment of Dr Norbert Masson as chairman of the EBC. He said it was a known fact that Masson had been closely associated to several past PNM Prime Ministers. Panday said Masson was the first principal of John Donaldson Technical Institute. He claimed Masson became Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education at the insistence of Dr Eric Williams, the then Prime Minister.

“Further, Dr Masson was the only member of the EBC who did not stand with the EBC when it was venomously attacked by the then PNM Opposition. His resignation in 2001 as a member of the Commission suggested that he supported the obscene assault on the Commission, thereby lending false legitimacy to the PNM’s unfounded accusations.” Masson was reappointed to the EBC in January 2004 and elevated to the position of chairman by Richards. The appointment of former Chairman Oswald Wilson was not renewed. Panday recalled, that it was only on December 23 the public was informed that Lewis Wesley-Charles, a former employee of EBC, was appointed a member of the Commission. Panday stated that this gentleman “of necessity would have been knowledgeable and complicit in alleged irregularities within the workings of the Commission during the last six years”.

The UNC Chairman contended that if this were so, Wesley-Charles ought not to have been appointed to the Commission. If, on the other hand, he was unaware of the discrepancies that were taking place at his organisation, “it brings into question his professional competence to serve on the Commission as a member,” the Opposition Leader said. In asking the President to rescind the appointments, Panday said failure to do so “will, without a doubt, constitute a serious assault on the peace, stability, independence and good governance of this fledgling democracy which has been struggling to evolve since its 1962 Independence.”