UNC MOVES AGAINST GANGA

UNC Chairman Basdeo Panday said yesterday that a disciplinary committee is soon to be established with the responsibility of looking at issues such as the Chief Whip question.

Panday had been asked if he was leaving Singh as Chief Whip or whether, given the mandate he received on Sunday from the rank and file to deal with indiscipline, he proposed to move against Singh.

Panday stressed that he did not plan to become "personally involved" in the Chief Whip issue. He said the executive had been so busy with "the internal foolishness" (wrangling), that it had no time to establish the party’s institutions, which included the disciplinary committee. However, he said it was time that the executive addressed these matters.

The establishment of the committee would be in keeping with the party’s stated intention — coming from both Deputy Political Leader Jack Warner and Panday — to enforce party discipline.

According to the UNC’s constitution, penalties imposed by the committee range from reprimand, suspension from membership pending further investigation, or expulsion — depending on the gravity of the particular offence.

However, any attempt to discipline Singh is not expected to get the support of Political Leader Winston Dookeran, who, in his controversial address last Sunday, described Singh as "one of the most effective chief whips our Parliament has ever seen."

Panday said the booing of Dookeran at the rally was unfortunate. He said the Political Leader received this reception because he expressed ideas, especially on the question of unity, that clashed with the sentiments of party members. "The rank and file obviously want unity. He must have angered them when he talked about the problems of unity in the party," Panday said.

On Dookeran’s call for the reappointment of Robin Montano as a senator, the Opposition Leader, who is charged under the Constitution with authority of advising the President on Opposition senators, stated that Dookeran should have taken this issue to the party’s executive. Panday said he would reappoint Montano if that was the wish of the executive. The executive is comprised largely of Panday loyalists.

On Dookeran’s statements that the party should seek reconciliation with Gillian Lucky and Fuad Khan, and should also attempt to have Gerald Yetming return to the front bench, Panday said, "The last one (Yetming), he went to the backbench on his own." Referring to Lucky and Khan, Panday added, "They claim to be independent UNC, but what that meant and how they could undo it, I don’t know. When people do foolishness they must decide how to get out of it for themselves."

Asked if he had it to do all over again — would he have handed the political leadership to Dookeran? Panday replied that he did it because he thought that it was the right thing to do. "Whether I was right or whether I was wrong, only time will tell," he said.

Asked whether he had reservations at this moment (about sponsoring Dookeran as political leader), Panday went around the question, saying that things were always subject to change. "Politics is a dynamic thing. It changes from day to day, and from time to time. Eventually it will work itself out. One must give it time," he said.

Asked if he would approve the application for membership of former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj whenever it is submitted, Panday said he would have to seek the advice of the party. He conceded that the party’s rank and file appeared to have delivered a judgment loud and clear at Sunday’s rally. But he stated that the party had organs. "I imagine they (the executive) would be guided by the feelings of the rank and file," he said.

There were unconfirmed reports yesterday that the executive was moving to expel Dookeran for his speech on Sunday, in which he was thought to be discussing internal party matters in public. The unconfirmed report also stated that Warner would be installed as interim leader.

However, Warner yesterday stated that those reports made no sense. "If that comes to me I will fight against it because it would not be in the party’s best interest," he said.