Dookeran clears the air

At Sunday’s UNC national congress in Couva, former party chairman Basdeo Panday said there were rumours of Dookeran trying to form a new party called the “New National Congress” and that his activities were being supported by PNM financiers.

Sources close to Dookeran yesterday said the UNC leader has not registered a new political party nor has anyone acted on his behalf. The sources also indicated that “no PNM financier, past or present, is currently funding any of Dookeran’s activities.

On Panday’s claim that Dookeran did not give him a clear idea of what the precise issues for uniting the party were, the sources said Dookeran had outlined those issues in a June 12 letter to UNC general secretary Fazal Karim.

In that letter to Karim, Dookeran identified the performance of the party’s national executive, disciplinary action (against Manohar Ramsaran and Gary Griffith by the executive), the lack of respect for the political leader by a small cadre of persons in the UNC and attempts to undermine several initiatives undertaken by him to unite the party.