30th January 2010
A Political ‘Quake’ in Trinidad

In my first contribution to the VOICE of Saint Lucia this year (Sat. 9 January 2010, to be precise) I predicted that besides Allen Chastanet, Senator and Minister of Tourism’s declaration of interest in contesting the next general elections in the constituency of Soufriere, - home of the highly publicized Touristic citadel of the island and the United Nations declared world heritage site - ‘Pitons’ - only the elections for a new leader within the United National Congress (U. N.C.) in Trinidad, may hold as much political interest to us in the Southern Caribbean. (St. Kitts/Nevis general elections being a safe bet for Dr. Denzil Douglas, incumbent Prime Minister, to win). Although Mr. Chastanet has not yet been endorsed by his party (the United Workers Party) for the candidacy he seeks in Soufriere the battle for top dog or rather political leader of the UNC in Trinidad has come and gone. In predicting the endorsed candidacy of Allen Chastanet in the Western town of Soufriere, St. Lucia and the outcome of the UNC internal elections as major political events in the South/East Caribbean, one could not have foreseen that recent mammoth earthquake in Haiti which caused so much destruction and loss of life in that Caricom country, and its political fallout.
I leave any further comment on my visit to Haiti in the seventies and the extreme poverty and excessive wealth I witnessed there whilst on an assignment with the FAO, for another time.
The reason I think the UNC internal elections is so important to us here in Saint Lucia is because so many young women from Saint Lucia now choose the University of the West Indies campus in Trinidad to complete tertiary education that they cannot be immune to the internal politics of that country. In addition it must have been apparent to anyone following the events within the UNC political campaigning for a political leader that Mrs. Persad-Bissesser conducted a clean campaign. She could not have been impeached on her conduct in the short period of campaigning nor on her political or academic achievements. Perhaps that is why Mr. Panday, the former
political leader and founder of the party and the man she referred to as her ‘guru’ had to descend to personal attacks and mudslinging against her. In particular, the charge that his opponent was a drunk, seemed to many Trinidadian such a hypocritical charge to make. In fact certain Trinidad comedians referred to Panday’s statements as ‘rum-bottle calling cork drunk’ - something Saint Lucians would know a little about.
When the final votes were counted, Mrs. Persad- Bissesser got more than thirteen thousand to Mr. Panday’s less than two thousand, of the sixteen thousand listed UNC members. Someone said if ever an East Indian woman laid such licks on her former ‘guru’ that was it. Others predict that Panday is so bazodie with licks, expect him to behave irrationally for the next few weeks, maybe months. In the immediate aftermath of that party’s election for a new political leader in Trinidad and Tobago, the reactions of many there, including the media, seem positive and encouraging for Mrs. Persad- Bissesser and her team. Many prominent columnists and letters to newspapers there have suggested that Mr. Panday should now do the honourable thing and step down as Opposition Leader to allow the President of the Republic to appoint Mrs. Persad-Bissesser, as Leader of the Opposition.
Those who know him well however, have predicted that Mr. Panday will do no such thing. To support their argument, they point to his demanding a majority of his elected colleagues in the parliament (who support him) to sign a document pledging their continued loyalty. That was before last Sunday’s vote. By Tuesday evening (Jan. 26) following Sunday’s convincing licking Mr. Panday was reported to have said that the internal elections within the party which he headed for the past twenty years, and whose election committee he had apparently hand-picked to do his bidding, was rigged.