JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Dookeran weighs calls to fight Prakash

...An­a­lyst: Nei­ther fit to lead COP

by

20140601

With the in­ter­nal elec­tions of the Con­gress of the Peo­ple (COP) due next month, po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst Dr Win­ford James be­lieves nei­ther Prakash Ra­mad­har nor Win­ston Dook­er­an is fit to lead.James added that the par­ty was al­so po­lit­i­cal­ly dead.Ra­mad­har, the MP for St Au­gus­tine and the Min­is­ter of Le­gal Af­fairs, an­nounced his in­ten­tion to con­test lead­er­ship for a sec­ond term. Dook­er­an mean­while has been asked by some COP ex­ec­u­tive mem­bers to con­sid­er con­test­ing the elec­tion, sched­uled for June 29.

In a tele­phone in­ter­view yes­ter­day, Dook­er­an said he was in Lon­don and was aware of the is­sue, but said he had not made up his mind about con­test­ing the post he walked away from a cou­ple years ago."I am aware of the sit­u­a­tion... that peo­ple have been call­ing for me to take back lead­er­ship of the par­ty, but it is some­thing I need to think about," Dook­er­an said.

James, who de­scribed the For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter as a "tepid leader," not­ed that he vol­un­tar­i­ly gave up the lead­er­ship po­si­tion, paving the way for Ra­mad­har to take over. But he point­ed out that both men were fac­ing the same is­sues as leader."Both Dook­er­an and Ra­mad­har are un­fit for the po­si­tion of leader. When Dook­er­an gave up the lead­er­ship po­si­tion, one got the im­pres­sion at the time that he him­self felt he was in­com­pe­tent giv­en all the noise which was tak­ing plac­ing in the par­ty," James said.

Ra­mad­har, James said, of­ten showed he was en­dors­ing is­sues oc­cur­ring in the Peo­ple's Part­ner­ship Gov­ern­ment ei­ther by re­main­ing silent or by us­ing care­ful­ly se­lect­ed words."It seems Ra­mad­har is more of a UNC than a COP and this was even ex­pressed from with­in the COP," he said."The is­sue with Anil Roberts has been a slap in the face for the COP, be­cause up to now they have not been able to have a re­al con­ver­sa­tion with Roberts about the al­le­ga­tions."

Ac­cu­sa­tions have been hurled at Roberts af­ter a video sur­faced fea­tur­ing a man re­sem­bling a gov­ern­ment min­is­ter rolling a mar­i­jua­na cig­a­rette in a ho­tel room with two women.

Lit­tle to show

On whether the COP could be re­vived, es­pe­cial­ly with the gen­er­al elec­tion around the cor­ner, James said the pub­lic has heard lit­tle or noth­ing about the par­ty's plans."How do you go about do­ing that? I have heard noth­ing about mat­ters of re­vival. They are hold­ing on to the idea of moral­i­ty in pub­lic of­fice and hon­esty and so on, but what has the COP done that we could re­mem­ber?"They have not shown their in­de­pen­dence as a po­lit­i­cal par­ty," James added.

On what was the al­ter­na­tive, he said this was dif­fi­cult, as it was not known who were the oth­er con­tenders want­i­ng to throw their hats in­to the ring.An­oth­er po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst, Mukesh Bas­deo, said it was a "wait and see game" as to whether Dook­er­an would con­test the post.But he warned that if Dook­er­an were to re­turn it would cre­ate a sce­nario with­in the par­ty.

"Mem­bers have lost con­fi­dence in Mr Ra­mad­har, but if Mr Dook­er­an de­cides to come back it would mean he would be chal­leng­ing Mr Ra­mad­har, who he iden­ti­fied as leader in the first place," Bas­deo added.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Jesus Explosion 23: Visiting priest feeds RC faithful

9 hours ago
Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Courtesy Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Courtesy Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League

Israel Khan honoured by community cricket league

9 hours ago
SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa steps up Caricom collaboration after summit

Yesterday
Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

ANISTO ALVES

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

ANISTO ALVES

Argentina wants to export world-famous beef to T&T

Yesterday