Mayers: COP may have to make decisions too

Congress of the People (COP) members may have decisions also since the COP isn’t being treated better than the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) in the PP coalition, says former COP deputy leader Robert Mayers. Mayers, spoke as a COP member yesterday, after the MSJ’s move to opt out of the coalition.

COP leader Prakash Ramadhar and deputies did not respond on the MSJ issue. The party’s chairman Joseph Toney, vice-chairman Vernon de Lima and deputy leader Dr Anirudh Mahabir are overseas. Mahabir said he couldn’t comment. Mayers, however, said: “The MSJ has found itself in an untenable position because the Partnership ceased to be a Partnership from very early and the MSJ has now recognised they are not partners but pawns.

“It’s very difficult for labour to ever consider itself as pawns because they have always held out that those who labour should hold the reins,” he said. “And they’re nowhere near that in this misnomer of a partnership. “So once MSJ engaged their membership on the situation, they wouldn’t have had much of a choice.

“So the Partnership is slowly but surely coming apart and we knew this would have occurred since it wasn’t a  partnership but basically the UNC with some other people...That’s exactly how it’s playing out. “The COP may have its own decisions to make also since they’re not being treated better than the MSJ. One waits  to see how much longer the COP will be prepared to take the abuse.

“That is for the COP membership to decide because clearly the COP leadership has already taken its own decision and they are prepared to stay in the coalition and take the abuse.”