Former UNC leader ensured NAR did not survive

In fact, according to former NAR Point Fortin MP and Finance Minister, Selby Wilson the infighting in the NAR, which began soon after they emerged victorious at the polls in 1986, with a landslide 33 seats to the PNM’s three, may have served to embolden the Jamaat al Muslimeen, which attempted to overthrow the then NAR Government after they stormed the Parliament, and the now defunct Trinidad and Tobago Television studios in 1990, causing widespread destruction in the capital city.

Wilson, who returned yesterday to complete his testimony before the Commission of Enquiry which is investigating the events surrounding the 1990 siege, said the NAR was affected by the split.

Wilson, who said he joined as a genuine NAR member and had not come from any of the other parties which eventually formed one unit to contest the 1986 general election, recalled the belligerent speeches of Panday, which left him to wonder if he was in the same party.

He also recalled former government minister John Humphrey criticising then prime minister Arthur NR Robinson at a meeting with public servants.

“I had to take him outside and tell him he could not be critical of Mr Robinson in the presence of public servants,” Wilson said at the enquiry, which is being held at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Port-of-Spain.

He also said Humphrey’s petition of a Caribbean dollar to solve the foreign exchange problem in the country at the time, was also a matter of concern as the government had been getting calls from international lending agencies. He said Humphrey needed to stop engaging in arenas in which he had no competence.

Wilson said the signs of discord in the NAR had surfaced early.

“I don’t see why people say, they don’t know why they were fired,” he said, in reference to previous testimony from members of the former NAR, who were fired from Robinson’s cabinet and later joined Panday in the formation of Club 88, which gave rise to the UNC.

Wilson also said the Panday-faction were finding it difficult to keep their followers and supporters happy and their response was to bring up the race element in the politics.

“It became more prominent when Club 88 was formed,” he said.

Panday, he said, had resorted to elevating race in the politics and effect the split in the NAR in an effort to hold on to his support base.

Wilson also recalled his fellow colleague Winston Dookeran as being described as a “Neemakaram” by Panday for electing to stay in the NAR government under Robinson. Also suffering the same fate was Emmanuel Hosein. Wilson said both Dookeran and Hosein held the belief they would not win their respective seats because of their decision to stay with the NAR.

Wilson said the warring faction of the NAR, succeeded in painting Robinson in a certain light.

“If Mr Robinson could have been a puppet on a string, and Mr Panday the power behind it, it (the NAR) would have survived,” he said.

“But Mr Robinson was not a man of that nature,” he said. “He did what was proper,” Wilson said, admitting that the former prime minister had his deficiencies.

“But I was happy to serve under him,” he said. Wilson said Robinson did have the tendency to be too stiff, and did not have the warm, charisma of other politicians.

“He was clinical and it was that weakness that was exploited,” he admitted. “He was a very formal and proper man,” Wilson said.

He also placed some blame on big businesses for emboldening the Jamaat al Muslimeen as they hired the group as debt collectors, and on politicians who used the sect for political gains.

“You reap what you sow,” he said, adding that there were rumours that the PNM, UNC and even the NAR used the services of the Jamaat al Muslimeen to get votes.

Wilson who again staunchly defended the NAR government’s strict fiscal policies, said they were necessary to turn the stagnant, bleeding economy around.

“Had we not implemented the economic measures, things would have been more painful and detrimental to the country,” he said, as he again admitted that the public servants’ salary cuts, suspension of their Cost of Living Allowances may have been bitter pills for the public to swallow, Wilson said the restructuring of the tax regime by the NAR government, also served to put more money in the pockets of the people.

As he again went through budget speeches from 1983 to 1991, Wilson also gave the breakdown of the personal income tax figures to reinforce his position that the measures implemented by the NAR, were necessary.

He also said some of the measures should not have come as a surprise to public servants and the government constantly held discussions with the various representing unions.

Wilson said he did not see the July 27, 1990, attempted coup as a result of the discontent of the people over the NAR’s fiscal policies, as the Jamaat al Muslimeen did not get the mass support of the people.