Toney leaves COP, rejoins UNC

UPDATE:

FORMER Congress of the People (COP) chairman Joseph Toney spoke on a platform at a United National Congress (UNC) meeting on Monday at El Dorado, saying the COP had lost its relevance. He vowed to rejoin the UNC, whose leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, he said, was the country’s best bet for the future.

Toney is also a former minister of national security in the past National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government.

Later Persad-Bissessar named Toney as UNC co-ordinator for Toco/Sangre Grande, a swing constituency that partly corresponds to the former Toco/Manzanilla seat he once held for the NAR. Toney, an attorney, is a former FCB former deputy chairman and former chairman of the Port Authority.

“I’m sure most of you are wondering ‘What’s Joseph Toney doing on a UNC platform?’” he said.

“Most of you will know I’ve been involved in politics since 1981 – a very long time, the NAR, the ONR (Organisation for National Reconstruction), the UNC, for a very short while.

“Let me be blunt tonight. I left the UNC with Mr Winston Dookeran (former UNC leader and former COP leader) to form the COP. That was a time we felt that the UNC under the leadership of that time had no appeal to form a government in TT.”

He related his becoming COP chairman.

“But I’m not one to badmouth any organisation where I worked and from which I’ve taken leave. But at this time, just like the pre-Kamla Persad-Bissessar UNC, I think my former party has lost its way and its relevance, and is unable to appeal any more to the voters of the population.”

He said he has moved on.

“But the politics is in my blood and I had to make a choice politically. Who is going to be my leader?” he said, evoking his famous words as the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen invaded the Parliament chamber in July 1990.

Toney said he had asked himself which current party leader could best lead TT to a good future.

“It wasn’t a question of finding out who’s more beautiful than the other,” he quipped, drawing laughter. comparing Persad-Bissessar with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

“It’s a question of who’s best to resolve the problems of TT, whether it comes to the question of health, sport, jobs and the economy, traffic congestion and what the two leaders have said about safety and security.”

ORIGINAL STORY:

FORMER Congress of the People (COP) chairman Joseph Toney spoke on a platform at a United National Congress (UNC) meeting on Monday at El Dorado saying the COP had lost its relevance and vowing to rejoin the UNC whose leader (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) is the country's best bet for the future. Toney is also a former minister of national security in the past National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government. He hailed the achievements of the Persad-Bissessar former administration in healthcare and sport.

Later Persad-Bissessar named Toney as UNC co-ordinator for Toco/Sangre Grande, a swing constituency that partly corresponds to the former Toco/Manzanilla seat once held by Toney for the NAR.