Senior Reporter
akash.samaroo@cnc3.co.tt
Sending a stern warning to those who want to uphold the party’s status quo, members of the newly revealed United Patriots slate told UNC national executive (Natex) incumbents to either accept the winds of change or face the impending storm.
At a packed Signature Hall on Saturday evening, the Rushton Paray-led slate shared their vision and plan for the party they said has become too comfortable in opposition.
Larry Lalla, a candidate for chairman, said the party is currently “the weakest opposition in this country’s history.” Noting that their rivals, the Star Slate, had a slogan boasting that they are “UNC and proud,” he asked what they had to be proud about given the state of the country and the party’s performance in the last two general elections.
“You have to conclude that they on that Star team must be mad, they must be mad! It is all mamaguy and nothing more than false pride they are using to mask the abject failure that has faced this party in the last nine years,” Lalla said.
He was also critical of the party’s habit of replacing genuine talent with perennial loyalists.
“It explains why people with great minds like Kevin Ramnarine, Bhoe Tewarie, the late Fazal Karim, Fuad Khan and Vasant Bharath were and have been excluded from the party,” he said.
Anita Haynes-Alleyne, a candidate for deputy political leader, said it’s high time the UNC stopped chasing away people who have opinions contrary to the leadership.
“A political party is about building. You cannot be running people from the organisation,” she said as the audience applauded.
“Imagine things get so bad they’re making members for the PNM. Anytime you say something in the UNC and they disagree, they call you a PNM. The UNC has made more members for the PNM than Keith Rowley.”
The Tabaquite MP warned incumbent Natex members that the winds of change are coming.
“They can either go gently into the breeze or they could find themselves in a storm, but it is up to them,” she said to tumultuous applause.
The political mudslinging that has become somewhat traditional in UNC internal elections was notably absent from Paray’s address. Instead, he sought to underscore that “the political enemy is the PNM, not the UNC, not my colleagues!”
Speaking mere hours after receiving a scathing letter from UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar questioning his motives and integrity, Paray would only say, “I don’t respond to harsh words. I am a local boy, I grew up in Mayaro. I grew up where you would get bouff from your parents if you didn’t say good morning and good evening.”
Instead, he put the members of his slate on alert that they were not there merely for optics.
“When we spoke, I made it clear, you are here to work, not to look good. The Patriots, which I am sure all of you are, we will not behave like we are star boys and star girls, we are going to continue with the philosophy of being servants of the membership of our great party,” he said.
Paray described the launch as a pivotal moment in the country’s history which coincided with the birthday of founding UNC member, the late Basdeo Panday. He promised to return the party to being an institution that values the input of all members.
“When we win on June 15, I will ask every single member of this party who has an idea or suggestion, to help the party find a new way, a new route to develop our party and our country. You will be welcomed, and I will make sure that happens,” Paray declared.
He also repeated his promise to find a headquarters for the party, to replace its practice of renting buildings. He did, however, question why the UNC still does not have a place to call its own.
“I would probably ask on the campaign trail, we’ve done a set of fundraisers over the last nine years for a headquarters, where is the money?” he asked.
In the lead-up to June 15, the United Patriots will be conducting a series of community meetings to detail its plans to build the UNC.