Revamping the UNC

United National Congress leader Basdeo Panday ended weeks of speculation when on Thursday he did not put his name up for the post of political leader of the party he created. At the same time, it is clear that Panday intends to retain de facto leadership of the party since he will be elected unopposed for the post of chairman. Moreover, Panday is mercurial enough and retains enough authority, to overturn this leadership transition if he does not like the way it turns out — a possibility that Winston Dookeran, who will be the new UNC political leader come October 2, must be well aware of.

In our opinion, Panday has done the right thing. The elevation of Dookeran will help restore credibility to the UNC as an alternative government. This is because Dookeran is seen as a humble man who has integrity. This is crucial for the revamping of the UNC, since it is mainly the taint of corruption which soured that party for voters. Nor did Panday handle his elevation to prime ministership too well, seeming for most his tenure to still be in Opposition mode. There is no little irony in Panday, just three days before his non-official resignation as political leader, stating in a public meeting that there is a perception in Trinidad and Tobago that no individual of East Indian descent is capable of running the government.

Even if this were so — and we doubt it is — then Panday himself may have strengthened this perception. During his time as prime minister there was hardly a significant group, from the media to trade unions to business organisations to teachers, which was not the target of his tart tongue, while his flippant or venomous responses to corruption allegations did his image no good at all. But it may be that Panday himself has realised this, and that is why he has stepped aside for a new man. At the same time, Dookeran’s image alone will not be sufficient to displace the PNM come the next general election. It is true that the Patrick Manning administration has been wrong-footing itself almost every step of the way. It is true that the ever-increasing murder rate — now above the average of one per day — and continual kidnappings have many citizens in dire doubt about the Government’s competence to run the country.

But it is also true that the country is awash with money, that racial politics still operate here, and that the PNM is a superior election machine. So the challenge facing Dookeran and the UNC is not an easy one. He must refashion the party in such a way that citizens will not be worried about corruption and hysteria in the affairs of the country, should that party return to office. Dookeran must also tone down, if not stop, the one-track fault-finding mode of Opposition politics, since citizens must also feel that the UNC has alternative policies that will be more effective than the PNM’s.  If Dookeran and the UNC can do all this, then the nation will be better off for it. And this project will surely need the experience and political savvy of Panday — as long as people don’t begin to feel that he is the true power behind the throne, in which case this entire exercise will have been for naught.