Captain on destructive mission

The English novelist George Orwell wrote, “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

How true of the captain’s regular dose of diatribe. Clearly, he is either out of touch with what is taking place in the United National Congress or he may be deliberately creating confusion. While the captain is on his mission of destruction, the duly elected national executive has been on a course of building and expanding to make the UNC a viable force to take government.

Indeed, the party is well advanced in its manifesto preparation.

The Strategy Committee is rallying the ground troops through party structures and organisation. And it has appointed a screening committee headed by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to find the proper mix of candidates to face the polls.

In other words, while the captain and his detractors are attempting to stymie the national executive into periphery, mundane and frivolous matters, it has moved ahead with overtures to get the best minds to deal with crime, the economy, and social transformation as it builds the consensus for governance.

Pray, what Pandora box is the captain talking about? Perhaps the captain is not even aware that the constitution of the UNC was amended on March 28, 2004 even while the Honourable Basdeo Panday was political leader and Opposition Leader, to place the selection of candidates for any election in the hands of the national executive. Yes, captain two years ago the national assembly of the UNC made the change to remove the final selection of candidates from the hands of the political leader and placed it in the hands of the National executive.

Let me refer the captain to article 12 (A)(g), which stages that the national executive, shall, among other things, “approve candidates to contest elections to the House of Representatives, Municipal Corporations and the Tobago House of Assembly after consultation with the party’s organs and institutions.”

I invite the captain to examine Article 27 of the party’s constitution which gives the duties of the political leader. Article 27 reads, “Subject to the provisions of this constitution the Political leader shall be responsible to the Party for the execution of its political affairs and in the discharge of those responsibilities he shall in his discretion act in consultation with such officers and/or institutions of the party as he considers necessary.”

Clearly, the selection of candidates is not one of the duties of the political leader.

Why does the captain want to take the party backwards? It was to dispel the maximum leader concept that the UNC constitution was changed. It would appear that the captain is advocating that the UNC embrace the maximum leader syndrome.

His letter to the editor clearly made a case for the UNC to go the way of the maximum leader. And he talks glibly about a “cabal!”. Captain, there is only one maximum leader, we in the UNC would welcome and he is Basdeo Panday!