An enormous event took place in the People's Partnership Government and I am just thinking out loud about how many people have taken note of it. Winston Dookeran, the man credited with doing what many believed could not be done- building a political party in Opposition-has stepped down from leadership to make way for new blood. This is something that our politics has not experienced before. In all of the major parties, changing political leaders has entailed either resounding defeats or death.
Whether it was Dr Eric Williams (who died), George Chambers (who went from PM to being voted out of Parliament), Basdeo Panday (who was defeated by Kamla Persad-Bissessar) or Patrick Manning (who went from PM to 12th man), no other Political Leader has displayed such a level of leadership and maturity to recognise when he is at his peak and that the time has come to pass over leadership to a younger generation.
Mr Dookeran must be praised for the setting of a great paradigm shift in our country and setting a new precedent of leaders who can accept when the time has come to stand down and pass on the baton. Such is the indelible stamp of maturity and integrity Mr Dookeran has placed on the Government. Simultaneously, as we saw Mr Dookeran step down in a display of mature leadership, we saw Jack Warner defy logic and somehow use corruption to his benefit by digging his fingers deeper into the Government.
Faced with a new set of allegations of FIFA corruption, some are seeking to make Mr Warner sound like some kind of national hero, by ignoring his corrupt past and casting him as an over-achiever. Was this a game-changing moment in the life of the People's Partnership? Was this where integrity bowed out and free-for-all politics was given control? It is a sad moment, as a support of the Government, to see such a tectonic shift take place while the majority of the population remained oblivious to the fact.
From the looks of things outside, and in spite of the few who wish to create a storm of support in a tea-cup and ignore the wider population, unless the Government moves to distance itself from Jack Warner, it is the Government that will fall under a cloud of suspicion and perceived corruption. Not a single person came to the defence of Mary King and the Attorney General conducted an investigation in under 24 hours to give the Prime Minister grounds to dismiss Ms King.
But in this case, weeks after allegations have been made, all we have seen is support from a number of MPs, and both the AG and PM saying they have Warner's back. I think we could be seeing a UNC 1995-2001 all over again unless the Prime Minister is brave enough to do what is right and drop Mr Warner like a hot potato!
Sunil Ramdath
Via e-mail