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Dear Editor,
In what I can only assume was meant to be a critical think piece published by Orin Gordon this week, he stumbled into an idea that even he didn’t recognise the implication of while writing it, and as such, what was meant to be a criticism of Kamla Persad-Bissessar revealed what might be the biggest failing of Rushton Paray’s ill-begotten grab for power within the UNC.
About midway through his column, when he ran out of things that could be said about Mr Paray, as presumably he, like the rest of the nation doesn’t really know anything about the aspiring political leader, Mr Gordon turned his attention towards Mrs Anita Haynes-Alleyne and started to sing her praises instead. In doing so, however, and Mr Gordon really doesn’t attempt to hide this fact, he announces how much better qualified and suited Mrs Haynes-Alleyne might be as a candidate for leadership of the UNC. And in all honesty, it’s hard to argue with that point.
Now am I saying that I think Anita Haynes should throw her hat into the ring as the successor to Kamla Persad-Bissessar? Probably not, especially if Mrs Persad-Bissessar enters that ring as the reigning contender. But if the choice came down to Anita or Rushton, I don’t even think it’s a contest.
That being said, and given the fact that even an outsider to UNC politics such as Orin Gordon could identify persons better suited to the role of political leaders within Ruston Paray’s own clique, the question isn’t why Kamla should remain as political leader, but it actually transforms into a question of why should anyone vote for Rushton? And this itself lends itself to a much grander question of why Rushton waited this long to act on his ambitions.
While Orin Gordon suggests that this is shaping up to be a Civil War within the UNC, I would counter that there were already two civil wars, and this doesn’t compare to either of them The first took place in 2001 between Basdeo Panday and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, and the second in 2015, in a three-way battle between Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Roodal Moonilal, and Vasant Bharath. While Mr Panday lost the battle which led to a fracture in the UNC that took almost a decade to heal, not only did Kamla handily defeat both challengers, but she also mended any rifts in record time to prevent the implosion that many were anticipating.
But this brings me to Rushton Paray, and Anita Hanyes-Alleyne to a lesser extent, who so far, have only been parroting the talking points and sentiments of previous challengers to Kamla’s throne, and the question then becomes, why have they taken so long to recognize these alleged issues and take action?
Rushton would have been sitting in Parliament since 2015 and witnessed challenges for the leadership such as the aforementioned Moonilal, Bharath twice, Christine Newallo-Hosein, and Fuad Khan, yet he remained loyal and silent throughout. Had he and the cast of voices he has now hired for his campaign been motivated to join any of their colleagues in their previous campaigns against Kamla, they still would not have won, but it might have at least created the type of rift I think he is hoping to achieve ahead of the next general election.
Ask Rushton Paray what he has done as either a Member of Parliament or in his private life to warrant election as political leader or prime minister and he wouldn’t be able to tell you. Then ask him why he never thought to lend his support to any of the more qualified people who might actually stand a chance of achieving either position and watch him try to squirm and weasel his way out of it.
The reason that Kamla Persad-Bissessar has remained the political leader of the UNC since 2010, and has maintained an electoral political career since 1995, is that she has won and maintained the utmost confidence of her constituents and the nation at large for her desire to serve the needs of the people and unite them in the face of a common enemy.
And for Rushton Paray to challenge her based on nothing other than a selfish desire for power and self-promotion is probably the most laughable contest she would have to fight after beating the nepo-baby on two separate occasions.
Ravi Balgobin Maharaj
Via email
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