From the outset let me state that on April 11, 2005, as a member of the UNC sitting on the Opposition bench, I wrote to the Speaker of the House indicating that I was no longer under the control of the Whip and would be, with immediate effect, operating in the House as an "independent UNC MP."
There were mixed reviews, with one school of thought strongly advocating that I should resign from the Parliament and the other welcoming, with limited applause, the advent of a new politics which would be based on independent thinking and votes of conscience when bills were being passed.Of course I was not the first to put some measure of distance between a sitting Member of Parliament and his/her party, but my move raised again the issue of the appropriate action, if any, to be taken when a person falls out with his/her party.
The citizenry has been bombarded with the recurring message that this regime has the interest of the population at heart, and that the decisions of the government, however difficult they may be, have been to promote the welfare of the State.
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