Panday fiddles while T&T burns

The call for Panday to hand over the reins of leadership to Kamla Persad-Bissessar, at the UNC’s meeting of delegates, underscores the weakening grip he has on the Indo-Trini base. A few years ago, this would be virtually unthinkable. Such a robust internal challenge from a mere party delegate to the leader is a sign of the times. Things have changed a lot since the heydays of PM Panday. People are suffering, and this is bound to change old loyalties. Frustration led to the initial defeat of the PNM in 1986. Many PNM supporters registered their disaffection by abstaining. Others voted for a new party. The political climate is right for a similar avalanche. Dr Rowley is a powerhouse that should not be underestimated, and he has taken the moral high ground with popular support.

Scandalous corruption and wastage are features of PNM-styled governance that have returned to haunt them. The Udecott inquiry would be laughable, if it wasn’t so costly and the spending so exorbitant and vulgar. The main obstacle to unity remains the intransigence of Basdeo Panday to relinquish leadership of the UNC. He continues to fiddle while Rome burns, holding on to a dwindling base in circumstances where it is clear that the political equation requires change. He is a mentor and hero to his people, and is responsible for much of their successful struggle against political discrimination, but is simply unelectable, because he lacks the credibility and moral authority. The raw reality of crime and PNM squandermania is causing many to re-evaluate his leadership.

Many hardcore supporters are wondering how a man who spent 40 years struggling for political power could have thrown it all away so easily. One such individual is the doubles man at the airport. He complained that he was robbed twice in the last month by a gang. He wakes up at 2 am to prepare his doubles, with the hope of catching local passengers bound for North America and the UK, as doubles are an excellent gift appreciated by any and all overseas Trinis. (Trust me, it’s a great last-minute gift to take!) The bandits struck on the days when these flights were full, and made off with ample cash. His sadness was punctuated by one haunting statement: “Why Panday put we out here in de dark on de side? Imagine, ah pizza company selling roti in de inside!” The pressure and frustration seemed obvious.

It was just too much for him to bear. His beloved hero Panday had built an airport that made no provision to accommodate local small vendors. Instead, big businessmen were accommodated. People who want doubles must walk all the way down to the end of the airport and take a left. The centrepiece of the UNC’s achievements and its loyal disciples were left out of the design in favour of the vilified “parasitic oligarchy.” Thanks to the UNC, the parasitic oligarchy was now selling roti and talkari in air-conditioned comfort, while poor doubles vendors were battling in the rain on the outside of the building. The airport security doesn’t seem to care about these poor vendors, as they are being robbed at will, and no one has been arrested to date.

If we don’t have CCTV cameras at the airport to catch these thieves, then the UNC’s security consultants who helped design this building should be fired, along with Martin Joseph, for failing to rectify the problem! The plight of the doubles vendors at the airport epitomises the failing of Panday, who failed to devote any or any sufficient attention to the needs of his people when he was in government. He should have had the vision and foresight to build houses for his supporters and voter-pad, like the PNM, to ensure his political survival. He should have groomed a successor to prevent the kind of disintegration that is presently occurring. And most importantly, he shouldn’t have left his people out in the cold to sell the very doubles that gave him his political sustenance, in favour of the parasitic oligarchy that he so frequently condemned for being in bed with the PNM, to the detriment of the Indo-Trini population.

Pizza, roti, anyone?

By Anand Ramlogan