Rosemarie Sant
The Congress of the People (COP) will not be entering into any alliance with the United National Congress (UNC) for the November 28 Local Government election.
Political leader of the COP, Dr Anirudh Mahabir, told Guardian Media that "there had been no discussion with the UNC on any alliance for the election and at this time we are standing alone. That will continue unless something new happens to change it."
Mahabir said the COP does not have the wherewithal to contest all 14 corporations "even though we do have a lot of support across the country. But we just do not have the money, and unless we have the money, we will be unable to galvanise the support which we need to contest all 14."
However, he said, they will be contesting seats in three corporations–San Fernando, Siparia and Tunapuna/Piarco.
Asked why those three were selected, he said that Tunapuna/Piarco is in the constituency of St Augustine which is represented by Prakash Ramadhar, the former political leader of the party.
The party, he said, has a base there. In San Fernando, he said, they also have "good support," which would also convert into votes.
With regard to the decision to contest the Siparia Regional Corporation, Mahabir said party activist Cletus Peters "has done considerable work in La Brea and Vessigny and we think because of the work he did and particularly with his popularity, we will be able to unseat the People's National Movement (PNM) councillor for the area (Brighton/Vessigny) Gerald Debesette."
He said people who had agreed to contest the election in the selected areas are already working on the ground ahead of the launch of the COP's campaign in a week's time.
Last week, COP founder Winston Dookeran and former San Fernando West MP Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan were seen seated together at the Divali Nagar in Chaguanas. Mahabir said Seepersad-Bachan has had no contact with the party, but Dookeran "has been speaking with us."
Asked whether Dookeran had been advising the party, he said, "He has no official role but as the person who started the party, as an elder politician and as a statesman we look to him for guidance. He came to our tenth anniversary and expressed an interest in the furtherance of the party."
Dookeran himself refused comment. He said he and Seepersad-Bachan were at the Nagar but it had nothing to do with politics, "I go to functions," he said.
Seepersad-Bachan confirmed that both she and Dookeran were invited to attend the Nagar and they accepted the invitation. But she declined further comment.
Asked about the re-emergence of Anil Roberts on the UNC political stage, Dookeran would simply say it was "totally outrageous," but he declined to say more.
Roberts appeared on a UNC platform in Diego Martin two Mondays ago and while Roberts has indicated that he is still a member of the COP, Mahabir told the Guardian that Roberts gave up his right to membership in the party when he appeared on a UNC platform. He said, "He is automatically no longer a COP member."
Mahabir said he was "personally appalled" that Roberts had been allowed to appear on a political platform. However, he said he had to "accept that the UNC is separate from the COP and the leader can make any decision she wants."
He said leaders have a responsibility to ensure that the decisions they make can withstand public scrutiny. "When one is in leadership one must set an example for the population, so that we can lead the population to better judgement and behaviour and we must be able to defend the decisions we make."
Mahabir said Roberts had "not been exonerated by the court, there is a technical deficiency in the audit which will be corrected. So he should not re-emerge until he is totally cleared of any wrongdoing."
Ramadhar told the Guardian that "the leader of the UNC is free to do whatever she wants."
He said his focus had always been about restoring "honour, confidence, dignity and trust to the politics and leadership and that is what I intend to continue to strive to achieve."
MSJ stands alone
The Movement for Social Justice, the MSJ, will also be going it alone for the Local Government election. Political leader David Abdullah confirmed that the party will not be entering into any alliance for the contest.
In June last year the party said it was interested in contesting all 137 seats in the 14 regional corporations, but Abdullah said "while it was our desire to do so we had to cut our cloth to suit our resources; hence the decision to put candidates in only three corporations."
The party is expected to field 14 candidates–seven in Arima, six in Pt Fortin and one in Tunapuna/Piarco. Abdullah said they have already screened four of the six likely candidates in Pt Fortin, three of the seven for Arima and the person likely to contest the MSJ ticket for the Santa Rosa/Blanchisseuse seat.
He said they have had four cottage meetings in Pt Fortin and two in Arima and "people we are engaging with are very enthusiastic and positive." According to Abdullah, on the ground people who are saying that they "feel they do not get good representation from the traditional political parties are looking to the MSJ with hope."
The party will launch its campaign on Sunday at a venue and time yet to be announced, but Abdullah said the theme for their campaign is 'Send them a message.'
The party's manifesto will be ready, he said, in the next two weeks.
ILP vying for Chaguanas
And the Independent Liberal Party, the ILP, will be contesting all the seats in the Chaguanas Borough Corporation and is still looking at the possibility of contesting the Sangre Grande, Couva and Tunapuna/Piarco regional corporations.
ILP spokesperson Indra Maharaj said the party has completed screening for Chaguanas and the candidates are already conducting walkabouts, but, she said, "we still have to make a final decision on the other three corporations Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo, Sangre Grande and Tunapuna/Piarco."
She referred questions on any alliance with any other party to political leader Rekha Ramjit.
The party will hold a news conference on Sunday, the day before nomination day, November 7, when it will announce details of its slogan and the manifesto.
Background
The Independent Liberal Party (ILP) was formed in April 2013 shortly after the dismissal of Jack Warner from the Cabinet of then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
The new party was formed ahead of the July 29 by-election for the Chaguanas West seat which Warner had won on a UNC ticket in 2010. Warner won the by-election with 69 per cent of the vote cast.
In October 2013, Warner's ILP contested the Local Government election garnering 62,000 votes.
The main show was in the Chaguanas Borough Corporation where the UNC got three seats, the PNM three and the ILP two.
Days after the election ILP-elected councillor Faaiq Mohammed broke party ranks and voted with the United National Congress (UNC) to elect Gopaul Boodhan as mayor of Chaguanas.
In June 2010, the MSJ withdrew from the coalition People's Partnership government. The party's political leader David Abdullah also resigned his post as a government senator.
Then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she had accepted his resignation, thanked him for his service, but in a parting shot noted that the demands he had made of government were "impossible, unreasonable and reckless." However, Errol Mcleod who came from the labour movement and contested the election under an MSJ banner stayed in the government.
In 2013, the MSJ contested the Local Government election alone. The party fielded five candidates but was not successful.
The Congress of the People was one of the main coalition partners in the 2010 general elections but their political stocks weaned under Ramadhar and out of the six seats contested in 2015, only Ramadhar was successful.