Sudama, UNC kiss and make up

FIVE YEARS after former Oropouche MP Trevor Sudama was expelled from the United National Congress (UNC), he has apparently “kissed and made up” with the party’s hierarchy and was on Wednesday welcomed back into the fold by a unanimous vote from the party’s national executive.

Sudama’s re-entry comes two months after another expelled member, former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, was also readmitted. Sudama and Maharaj were thrown out together with former Naparima MP Ralph Maraj in 2001, after they raised concerns about corruption in the then UNC government, under the prime ministership of Basdeo Panday.

The announcement of Sudama’s re-entry was made by UNC acting chairman Vasant Bharath following Wednesday night’s national executive meeting at Rienzi Complex in Couva.

Bharath said the decision to readmit Sudama had been pending for some time.

“The national executive received the recommendation from the membership committee that Sudama be readmitted as a member of the UNC, and that was voted on unanimously by the UNC. Trevor Sudama is now re-admitted into the party and is a member of the UNC as of tonight (Wednesday).”

Maharaj, with Sudama, went on in 2001 to form the short-lived Team Unity political party which contested the 2001 elections. Team Unity failed to win a seat. Maraj has since returned to the ruling PNM fold.

Bharath declined to divulge whether Sudama could be chosen as an alderman nominee for a UNC-controlled regional corporation. Although councillors got an extension, after the Government postponed the local government elections, aldermen and mayors are likely to be replaced at the regional corporations whose terms expired yesterday.

The acting UNC chairman would only say that there will be a few surprise nominees announced by the UNC. The full list is expected to be announced by the party today, Bharath said.

Concerning the 50 meetings which the party’s estranged political leader Winston Dookeran plans to hold, the first of which took place on Wednesday night, Bharath said those meetings were not sanctioned by the national executive.