Dial to face COP’s wrath over posting on Facebook

Public Administration Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan yesterday hinted that Congress of the People (COP) “loyalist” Nalini Dial will have to face consequences from the party’s executive for her Facebook posting on the disappearance of Marlene Coudray’s daughter.

But in an immediate response, Dial labelled those who criticised her as “hypocrites,” saying she was prepared to resign from the party as she would not let her views be compromised. Dial posted on her Facebook it was retribution which led to Coudray’s daughter, Michelle, going missing in Jamaica.

Seepersad-Bachan was speaking after yesterday’s launch at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre, St Ann’s, of a Web site of the Police Service Commission. On Tuesday Works Minister Jack Warner also criticised Dial, describing her posting as “disgusting.”

Seepersad-Bachan termed Dial’s posting  “very unfortunate.” She said she was present at a COP executive meeting on Tuesday night and Dial’s actions were condemned outright. She added: “The executive members of COP have distanced themselves from Ms Dial’s statements and I think they would be taking it further with Ms Dial... the leadership of the party would be dealing with that matter.”

Saying Coudray and her family were in her prayers, Seepersad-Bachan said she felt the pain of the San Fernando mayor. “We have been praying that Ms Coudray would continue to find the strength in this traumatic period of her life,” Seepersad-Bachan added.

Dial, however, who remained adamant that she was “fearful of no one,” asked: “Who do they think they are? They want to discipline me? Are they my mother and father? “They can’t  even discipline Anil Roberts but they want to discipline me.” She charged that many COP people were verbally unkind to Coudray and some even publicly called her names.

She added: “They used to call Ms Coudray all sorts of things and suddenly all of them are compassionate to her... all of them are just being hypocrites. “I am fed up with these pretentious people. I thought I had joined a party which preached honesty but I cannot stand this kind of hypocrisy and deceit and I am prepared to resign.”

She also accused detractors of taking her posting out of context. Saying she had the support of other animal-rights activists, Dial said she made the statements on Facebook  in light of how the dogs were killed by the San Fernando City Corporation.

She said: “This country just cannot face the truth. It is my democratic right to express how I feel and other animal-rights activists also feel the same way. “I maintain people will reap what they sow and they must be held accountable for their deeds. This is what the Bible teaches us and in this instance it just so happens that it is Ms Coudray.”

She said she attended a COP meeting in Lopinot on Tuesday night at which other party members rallied around her. “Some of the members are also expressing the same sentiments as I do. It just so happens that I have gone public with my views and they have chosen not to,” she added.