Can a coalition find success against PNM?

THE EDITOR: For the UNC to replace ten old stalwarts at one fell swoop is both instructive and full of implications:

1. Considering the perceived baggage of mismanagement and corruption during its tenure of which the old faces are a clear reminder, is bringing in new faces a good promise of “turning a new leaf?”

2. Can the young faces like Khadijah Ameen, Vandana Mohit, Saddam Hosein, Sean Sobers, and Taharqa Obika succeed in giving that fresh face and promise of delivery as against the same old, same old of the rejects?

Considering the excellent stewardship of Mohit as mayor of Chaguanas thus far and her overcoming those impediments to her person in the media, and Ameen’s good record as chairman of her borough council and her excellent interview with Fazeer Mohammed last week, articulate, visionary and well informed about the varied challenges of her constituency, is it likely that they can, and can it be likewise for other newcomers as Hosein, Sobers and Obika?

3. Is sidelining old and seasoned politicians who are likely to ask questions and retaining some old stagers who won’t a good strategy to eliminate any leadership threats to an already “ageing” leader with a less than flattering record on the field of elections, and surrounding herself with young unquestioning minds eager to satisfy?

Is this not an already used ploy considering the elimination of Mary King and Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan whose independence and intelligence, and possibly gender, may have posed a threat in the then future? But doesn’t the retention of old stager Moonilal, considering his previous challenge to the leadership, raise a few questions? Is there need for a pit bull against the rotweiller?

4. Considering that among the ten rejects there are four “step-downs” and the rest outright rejects, taking into account the disaffection arising from the ouster of Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie and Fazil Karim thus far as reported in the media, is it likely that as former colleagues they would access the doors of the seemingly depleted Panday Patriotic Front, seeing themselves as giving rise to a viable alternative to the UNC, especially as their loyal followers would follow suit?

I won’t give tribal supporters an intelligence to make them see the dangers of “splitting the vote” and the consequent fallout of a PNM victory, nor would I give that moral high ground to rejected politicians to remain loyal to the old UNC if they see their interests being served in the new East Indian vanguard, namely Panday’s Patriotic Front, more so as they see the latter as a revitalised UNC.

5. It is interesting to speculate where all this is headed. With the PNM surrounded by the same old baggage and many new problems, without a “gimme, gimme” budget and having only a “successful” covid19 now under serious threat over the repatriation issue, victory does not appear as foregone as it used to be.

With Watson Duke threatening an alliance elsewhere from Tobago, and with a mood rife for dissent among its own supporters, is it possible that a rare aberration may just occur with people responding to the general angst of the moment, giving their vote elsewhere, to the newcomers in the UNC, to the old stagers in an alternative UNC in Panday’s PF, to Fuad Bakr, Seepersad-Bachan, Phillip Alexander, David Abdulah and even to Inshan Ishmael, giving rise to the prospect of a successful coalition against the PNM?

Is the traditional rock of tribal voting so immoveable as to make such speculation silly?

I leave that answer to you the reader.

DR ERROL N BENJAMIN

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