A breath of fresh air

THE EDITOR: The launch of the 2020 general election campaign for the coveted prize of prime minister of TT has now become more interesting with the announcement of the newest political party, the Patriot Front, contesting all 41 seats in the election to take place no later than December 24.

The party’s leader is a prodigy of a name that has been synonymous with local politics since 1966, when her father, Basdeo Panday, contested the general election on a Workers and Farmers Party ticket, losing his deposit in the process.

This defeat did not deter the elder Panday, who, ten years later, would become the leader of the opposition in Parliament. And, 24 years later, would become the fifth prime minister of this nation.

Mikela Panday has a monumental task in making her contribution in creating a new horizon in the political landscape of our country, where many of our citizens have resigned to a feeling of hopelessness and disenchantment, having been governed by a crop of politicians, on both sides of the political divide, that has all failed to engender any ray of confidence in the future of our country.

What does the entry of the Patriotic Front, and by extension Mikela Panday, bring to the table?

As the youngest of all the leaders, she brings youth and dynamism to a mix of the old and experienced. Her entry, therefore, will serve to inspire the enthusiasm of the innocent and formative minds of our nation’s youth to see the future with a reason to aspire and to achieve.

She can attract young professionals, many of whom are doctors, lawyers and engineers unable to find gainful employment and are wasting away valuable talent. They can take to a young leader who can empathise with their desires.

To the supporters of the opposition, who are disenchanted and are rudderless but are reluctant to change allegiance because of their primordial instincts, there is now a chance to break away from the burden of the messianic leader and still feel at home.

When the senior Panday took the oath of office as opposition leader in 1976, the ULF having won ten seats, he addressed a meeting in Woodford Square following the swearing-in ceremony in Parliament. He stated, “Today marks the death of the DLP, may they rest in peace.” The era of the Capildeos was now history. On to a new incarnation, the ULF.

The young Mikela is hoping soon she too can say the same of the UNC.

With all the internal wrangling in the UNC over the candidates to contest the election, don’t be surprised if the disenchanted supporters are swayed to throw their support behind the new kid on the block. After all, she is a Panday and a promising star – but most of all they can feel at home.

We may soon see the repeat of the 1976 Woodford Square speech, where there can be the latest incarnation of the DLP and no more of the personalities that have dominated opposition politics for decades.

With the likelihood of a loss in the general election, the UNC will have to find a new leader, and with the hope of inheritance of the mantle her father once held, it would be an easy transition for the young Panday, having emerged as a leader of a national party, just after the election.

Is history about to repeat itself?

We wait with baited breath as the politics develops with the election soon to take place.

ROBERT RAMSAMOOJ

Chaguanas