Caption: While slamming his political leader, Dinesh Rambally holds up a copy of his Chaguanas West nomination papers
By Prior Beharry
CHAGUANAS West MP Dinesh Rambally says he has no confidence in political leader of the United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
At a press conference on Friday at the Divali Nagar in Chaguanas, stressing that he remains a committed lifelong member of the UNC, Rambally said, “The UNC in its present form cannot win any election and certainly not the next general election. The party has to be revamped, reorganised and revilatised.”
He added, “Today, I place my political life on the alter in the hope that I can cause meaniful change within the UNC.”
Rambally said, “The UNC’s inability to win the next election or any election stems from the continued failure of the ledership of Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar.”
He said, “I saw a news article this morning saying that Kamla said she will serve until the end of her days, that means that it will be opposition of the UNC until the end of her days.”
Rambally said he filed his nomination papers to contest the Chaguanas West on Thursday.
His meeting was held exactly three weeks after Mayaro MP Rushton Paray had his own press conference to also call for internal elections in the party.
And for the first time, he revealed the other UNC MPs who shared his and Paray’s conviction.
Rambally said, “(The) treatment of MPs Rushton Paray, Anita Haynes, (Dr) Rai Ragbir and Rodney Charles further fortifies my conviction that the leadership of the party is failing the party. That is… my response to what the media has been asking all the time, ‘why Rambally quiet’.”
He said these four MPs have not only called for internal elections but for adherence to the constitution of the UNC. Only Charles was at the news conference.
The Chaguanas West MP said after losing two consecutive general elections, he has seen nothing in Persad-Bissessar that indicated that she has learned from her mistakes or she has the capacity to correct them.
He said, “We can’t keep singing the same old song that the best governemt ever was under Kamla when after winning in 2010 with 29 seats to 12 PNM, we proceeded to lose the 2015 general elections and again in 2020. We can’t keep fooling ourselves.”
Rambally said the foremost priority was to instil confidence in the leadership of the party.
He called for UNC internal elections.
Rambally said, “According to the UNC constitution, internal elections are supposed to be due in June. How can the population trust the leadership of our party or the governance of the country when the management of our internal party affairs is in question.”
Persad-Bissessar has said that there is no indicatiom that elections will not be held when they are constitutionally due.
At the press conference, Rambally said, “I don’t know how they could say this a premature call for internal elections. There’s absolutely nothing taking place that is suggesting remotely that we are heading in that direction of accountability.”
Rambally said it was“hypocritical” that Persad-Bissessar, who allegedly stands for proper election practices continues to “hide an (internal) election date in her back pocket.”
He said, “Hiding the internal election date which is due in June 2024, while pretending to prepare for general elections which is due between September to November 2025 is mamaguy and utter foolishness.
“I want to say today to the Natex and to the political leader, stop treating the rank and file members of this party with the kind of levels of disrespect that we are seeing.”
According to Rambally, he attempted to raise the issues several times internally but was ignored.
He said, “I have no confidence in her and I have no confidence in the Natex that they will see that I stand for principle that they will see that I am a man who is true and that I stick to my word and understand that I am straightforward. I call it as I see it.”
Rambally said the screening process for general elections should be halted and internal elections be held.
He said he now has a political bull’s eye on his back but remains inspired by the courage of the consummate warrior Arjuna in the Hindu text Mahabharat.
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