Who amongst non-believers in the Congress of the People cares whether the membership of the party elects either Roberts, Ramadhar or De Lima to lead the way??No one really; after all a political hustler is a political hustler. De Lima, Roberts, Ramadhar, same khaki pants. But that would not be so when leadership of this important element of the ruling coalition is placed in the context of the population having voted last year to spread power in this plural society made up of a mixture of cultures, ethnicities, religions and political geography.
The electorate determined in May 2010 that the best way to bring balance to the plurality of contestations would be to distribute power amongst five political parties as a means of ensuring that the elements of the society represented by the groups would work against the evils of patronage based on tribal allegiance. The need to decentralise the power became acute as in the run-in to the general election, the society had reacted with anxiety, deep annoyance, even fear that then political leader of the ruling party and prime minister, Patrick Manning, leading an essentially homogenous group, had usurped power and government, and like Napoleon had crowned himself emperor.
The electorate turned sharply away from Manning's PNM and towards a coalition of parties which came together and promised to govern in the interest of all. The promise proved to be believable to the electorate. The relevant constituency saw in Daaga and NJAC a black nationalist representation, a group which had taken a radical departure in 1970 and so would be prepared to stand against any notion of disenfranchising and/or marginalising the black urban socially deprived classes. In the TOP, the interest of Tobago (political geography) was seen to be protected.
The Movement for Social Justice promised a presence for labour in the corridors of power. The COP was accepted as a voice of reason: "new politics," a leader perceived to be a man of integrity and balanced judgment, the COP allowing too the mixed ethnic middle class and business community to have a voice in the Partnership. The UNC provided assurance to the Indo-Trinidadian electoral base in central and south Trinidad that its size, social, cultural, religious and economic power in the society would be reflected and given recognition in government.
Question is how does the internal election of the COP figure in all of this? First off, the original leader of the party, the trusted one who had demonstrated that he was willing to give up his heir-apparent status in the UNC to fashion a new party consisting of a spread of interests, is demitting office. Without Dookeran in the political leadership of the COP, the thought must have entered the minds of many that the borders of the PP would become permeable, porous and open to penetration from outside.
The view has therefore emerged that there is now the inherent risk with the departure of Dookeran from the political leader's chair that the COP could become something less than that presented to the electorate in May 2010. It could mean a disruption to the delicate balance that was struck when the decision was taken to remove Manning, the hubristic leader caught up in the glory of self, with a panel of leaders who would serve as checks and balances, one against the other. The eligible COP electorate and the rest of the national community therefore must have an interest in which one of Roberts, De Lima and Ramadhar has the capacity to keep the other leaders of the coalition honest.
At the first level of analysis, it must be observed that two of the candidates are Cabinet ministers bound by collective responsibility. Moreover, Warner, Sharma and most of the others have been arguing that even beyond Cabinet responsibility, all ministers and senior officials of the Partnership are expected to "toe the line" when the Prime Minister takes a position, good, bad or indifferent. All in the Partnership must protect the leader, goes the doctrine. Moonilal even offered his head to the farmers in exchange for leaving the reputation and image of the Prime Minister in tact. Such a doctrine as it is evolving automatically ties Roberts and Ramadhar with having to adopt and protect whatever position the Prime Minister takes.
Ramadhar, however, has sought to demonstrate that as leader of the COP he will be quite prepared to adopt another view if it becomes necessary. Warner has called it seeking to achieve "political mileage" out of his troubles; Ramadhar would argue that he has indeed taken such positions previous to this occasion. Then there is De Lima, vice-chairman of the COP and someone who has often been an out- spoken critic of the UNC's dominant hold on power and the exercise of that power to the distress of the COP and the different constituents the party represents.
He and his supporters, notably deputy political leader Robert Mayers, who has been even more critical than De Lima, have round-ly condemned what they interpret as the marginalisation of the COP in the Partnership. Therefore they are offering a different form of political leader within the ruling coalition who would not be bound by the collective Cabinet responsibility doctrine. Such a leader, they contend, would be able to deliver on what was promised to the electorate by way of quality governance and a programmatic approach to governance not encumbered (there are those who say Dookeran was so stymied) by the exigencies of power and subjugated to prime ministerial rule of the variety we have experienced in the system of parliamentary democracy operated here.
The counter argument is the need to fix exactly the problem that has been created by the multi-interest PP coalition with leaders and ministers feeling that they have to address their own political constituencies. The way to achieve this unity of purpose is to put in place a political leader of the COP who is likely to fall in line with government policy and prime ministerial fiat, would be the argument. Therefore, one of Ramadhar or Roberts as a member of the Cabinet holding the Cabinet line in preference to a COP position would be the ideal.
To be continued