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Consorting With the Forces of Evil
Posted: Saturday, March 18, 2006

By Stephen Kangal

The public utterance of the Chairman of the UNC/Leader of the UNC Opposition with respect to his boastful willingness to indulge in sleeping with the devil or consorting with evil/ extremist elements to win an election against the PNM is a clear violation of the moral and spiritual values on which the UNC is founded. This is no different from the use of the criminal elements by the PNM to undermine the integrity of the electoral process to steal the 2002 elections.

It is to be noted that Mr.Panday's renewed willingness to sleep with the devil's father and not the Father of Jesus Christ at the February 19 UNC Mass Rally is a further reinforcement of his abandonment of the principles of ethics and moral/spiritual rectitude. That is why he can use obscene and vulgar terms such as " intellectual masturbation" to describe the two highly successful seminars held by the Political Leader of the UNC in Tunapuna and San Fernando. He wants to keep the UNC grass roots support base barricaded as political eunuchs so that he can manipulate them into puppetry.

His remark of sleeping with the devil is not exclusively a party matter. Mr.Panday made those remarks in the public domain. In fact Mr. Panday I suggest, should be subject to UNC disciplinary proceedings since his statements have embarrassed the UNC membership, tarnished its reputation/credibility and sullied the public image of the Party. His remark has been the butt of all types of jokes, letters to the editors, ole mas portrayals, calypsoes, cartoons etc. These portrayals have brought the image of the UNC into disrepute and odium amongst the population and caused the intelligent and principled membership to distance themselves from the UNC.

On the other hand did the Hon Ganga Singh enter "…into a public controversy inimical to the interest of the Party"? Did not Mr. Singh make these statements under the cover of Parliamentary privileges on a debate in the House? Is he therefore immune from prosecution and censure by strangers to the House? In fact was not Mr. Singh underlining the cardinal importance of following a bedrock of values and principles in political decision-making as espoused in the UNC Constitution for which he must be commended rather than censured? Mr. Panday is the one who publicly violated the clearly established founding principles of the UNC and not Mr. Singh.

An Independent Disciplinary Committee called upon to adjudicate on this matter will declare it to be frivolous and vexatious and a waste of time.
Is Panday the UNC and the UNC Panday because the UNC is his child and also his Sita. Has this child not grown up into adolescence after 18 years?

There are others who have brought the Party into disrepute and further more are functioning as Independents in the House with impunity although they are members of the Party. There are more compelling cases for determination by the Disciplinary Committee than the Singh heckle.

Did Mr. Panday publicly compromise the integrity and democratic process of the UNC by prematurely announcing that Mr.Maharaj was going to be one of the leaders of the Party ("the fearsome foursome") even though he has been expelled since December 2001 and cannot be admitted before the expiration of the requisite five-year period.

Jack Warner has made public statements derogatory of both the Chairman and the Political Leader geared to bring the Party into odium and disrepute.

Mr. Panday is guilty of upstaging and arrogating unto himself the constitutionally determined duties of the Political Leader in respect of the latter's responsibility for the political direction of the Party. The political leader had to protest at Mid-Centre. He has violated and continues to infringe party protocol by speaking last at all political meetings. His public humiliation of the Political Leader continues unabated. To all intent and purposes Mr. Panday has marginalised and replaced the duly elected Political Leader on a number of party political matters that are exclusive of his role as Leader of the Opposition. That conduct has rendered the image of the UNC into a laughing stock amongst Caricom Prime Ministers as well.

The manner of the stage-managed return of Mr. Ramesh Maharaj to the UNC ostensibly as "guest speaker" reeks of unilateralism and authoritarianism on the part of Mr. Panday. Mr. Dookeran had to protest about potential divisiveness.

To refer to the two successful seminars hosted by the Political Leader as "intellectual masturbation' is a stinging, venomous, obscene and vulgar attack on the integrity of the Political Leader. It is geared to bring the UNC into odium and disrepute among the thousands of supporters/ knowledgeable presenters and UNC members who participated in and lauded these Seminars. This matter must be referred to the Disciplinary Committee for its determination.



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