Mark: UNC on path to Govt

THE UNITED NATIONAL CONGRESS (UNC) is “on a rebuilding and re-transformation path to take over the Government of the country from the People’s National Movement.”

Senator Wade Mark told a media briefing on Sunday at the end of a special national retreat that the party’s constitution was being reshaped at the moment, in keeping with the changing political landscape of the country and in time, it will be submitted to the National Congress for approval. By November, all the party machinery will be ready for the January elections at which all the posts will be declared vacant and will be openly contested. Party Leader Basdeo Panday said that he would be ready to give up leadership at the age of 70, and indications are that he may not agree to stand for re-election as he prepares to “devote the rest of my life to religious pursuits.”

At the special national retreat, Winston Dookeran (MP for St Augustine) submitted a paper on the question of leadership and what it would take the UNC to adopt to “recover governance” and this was studied by seven groups in a workshop, before reports were submitted at the end of the day. As a result, the party would come up with an action plan that would soon be implemented on the road to regaining political power in the country. Dookeran heads a 15-man committee to study the action plan before proposals come up for discussion at the party’s National Congress.