The Congress of the People must not allow the politics of bacchanal and riot to become part of its legacy. In the formative days of the COP many thousands stood with Winston Dookeran, Sadiq baksh, Roy Augustus and others to create a new model of political vehicle on which the "principles of new politics" was built. With the imminence of the COP's internal election carded for July we are beginning to witness, at least from one of the challengers to Mr Dookeran's leadership, a kind of behaviour that is deemed abhorant to say the least.
Sports Minister Anil Robert's behavior since assuming political office has consistently demonstrated that he is alien to the "principles of new politics" as intended by the founders of the party. I was among the thousands who pledged ourselves to this concept and we believed then that the political culture in Trinidad and Tobago had hit an all time low. Mr Dookeran was easily identified as the best person among those of us who were concerned about our country's politics to lead the fledgling party.
Today, Mr Dookeran remains a good choice to lead the COP should he decide to accept the nomination of the people. Anil Roberts has demonstrated quite early in the process that he is not the kind of material that the COP wants in its political leadership team, especially as Political Leader. As a founding member of the party I am concerned about the direction that Roberts' rhetoric is taking and I hope that the membership of this new viable institution do not allow all the hard work done by so many people to build a credible alternative to what existed be destroyed by the old culture of local politics as being promoted by Mr Roberts.
Selwyn Samaroo
University of Tennessee