We need broad-based political party

THE EDITOR:  Frankly, I am fed up with the cheap political alliances that never work and that have been masterminded from decades ago by the political leader of the Opposition. I have been in this political thing for a long time at home and no one gains but a select few. I have always stood for my party through thick and thin,  but I am beginning to see a type of degenerate political tapestry that was woven in the past will continue to haunt the UNC into the future. I was a foundation member of the ULF after coming straight from University then Club 88 and finally the UNC. I served as adviser to the NAR Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1990 after the coup and gave up a lucrative position at UCLA to do that. The government lasted as long as the Red House fire!

In 2000 I gave up another research and teaching position at the University of Notre Dame to serve as  adviser to Ganga Singh, Minister of Human Development Youth and Culture. Within months the UNC was out of power due to Ramesh Maharaj et al. Simply put, Panday’s political alliances from the ULF days with Shah, Weekes, Robinson and other people, including Ralph and Lawrence Maharaj, have never worked! The history of this amalgam in local politics speaks volumes for itself. His political alliances have always failed. And we expect to see the same thing happening again soon with Maharaj, Morgan Job and everybody else who think they have a handful of straggling support here and there in this country to translate into a political party. Ramesh Maharaj’s utterances in San Fernando this week smacks of another alliance that the UNC may gladly subscribe to. As Panday has always put it: If it means sleeping with the devil to remove the PNM so be it! But it goes beyond that.

It is simply a lust for power  for however short it may last, notwithstanding that the country will be  affected and left in a bewildering state. Mr Panday plans to hold on to political life with the sugar belt votes in Central and parts of the South and use it as a “carrot on a stick” to form more political alliances in the near future. Are the people of  TT suckers for bad treatment? We have suffered for decades under PNM rule and we continue again to do so from people like Manning and his crew but when we think we have sound politicians in the Opposition  who should be working towards a broad-based party to represent every one who lives here, what we get are people holding on to their “political base.” They care and know little about nationalism or having the citizens of TT close at heart! The point is that on both sides of the political spectrum we have deceivers. To make a long story short, we need leaders who care about the entire population, not only Indians or Africans like the PNM and UNC are presently doing. They cannot be myopic like Manning, Valley, Panday and the rest and leave  the country to rot.

There is a flow of hard oil currency coming in which will soon be reduced once there is a new government in the USA come November. And, where will we be then with regard to infrastructural development including roads, jobs, health care, pipe borne water, housing etc? We need a strong grassroots organisation now to take over the reins of government in 2007 as the PNM and UNC have already started to create the political vacuum necessary for this. The sooner this is done the better. This organisation has to be highly nationalistic embracing all races — everybody — with a strong and lucid national pragmatic plan to solve basic needs and problems that people are suffering from at present. This “vision” has to be elucidated now by young nationals who care for their country!

DR CHRIS MAHADEO
Port-of-Spain