The Congress of the People (COP) is prepared to take an independent position on policy matters, even those which may arise in the Parliament, if Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar does not address the issue of giving the position of San Fernando mayor to that party.
This may have repercussions for the passing of legislation in the Parliament, according to Joseph Toney, the COP chairman who spoke at a post-national council media briefing which was held at the COP Operations Centre, Caroni Savannah Road, Chaguanas.
"Until this matter is resolved, that is the matter of the mayorship of San Fernando, the national council instructed the national executive and the political leader that they wanted to go on record that the COP reserves the right to revisit our relationship with all the units that form the People's Partnership (PP).
"In this regard, you will notice as we go forward that the COP would be asserting its right publicly to take an independent position on policy issues," he said. The problem of the position of San Fernando mayor first surfaced when Marlene Coudray announced that she would be contesting the March 24 United National Congress (UNC) internal election for the post of deputy political leader.
COP officials insisted that the agreement before the 2010 general elections must stay, which is for a member of their party to hold the position of San Fernando mayor. Further explaining what the COP meant by taking an independent position on issues, political leader Prakash Ramadhar said: "The COP exercises it's right independently, as an independent political party within the confines of coalition politics, to stand on any position that the party has taken-independent and separate from the Partnership itself."
Ramadhar said the COP would insist on policy adjustments through its members who are part of the Cabinet. "The national council has instructed myself as political leader and the other members of Cabinet, COP members, to remain in the Cabinet and therefore, it is from there as a first option we would exercise a right to insist on certain policy decisions or adjustments."
This new position by the COP could have repercussions for the passing of legislation in Parliament, Ramadhar said. "We would exercise our independent discretion and if we think it is in the interest of T&T, we will support legislation," he said. "If we do not believe it is in the interest of the people of T&T, for now and for the future, we will take the decision to either vote against legislation or to abstain from voting."
For weeks, the UNC has been saying that the matter concerning Coudray has been resolved but Ramadhar said the rules of engagement among the parties which form the PP should not be forgotten. "We in the Congress see this as a breach of trust and we consider it critically important to the future politics of the nation," he said.
Ramadhar also said the party would not accept any other alternative apart from the position of mayor being held by a COP member. "In the present instance, we will not accept any alternative compensation for the breach of the agreement by the UNC...We will not sacrifice principle for position," he said.
Ramadhar told reporters the COP would not be bought through the offer of any alternative position. A UNC official said the public will judge the COP. "It seems that the COP is signalling that they wish to go on their own, which is a very unfortunate position to take," the official said.
"It also lacks integrity when at the end of one of the leadership meetings, they had accepted that the Marlene Coudray issue was closed. "The population is looking very closely at the behaviour of the COP, especially since the population expects mature people to behave in nothing less than a mature manner, in order to ensure that the hopes of 2010 are fully realised."