Moonilal not ruling out UNC leadership challenge

OROPOUCHE East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal is not ruling out the possibility of challenging Kamla Persad-Bissessar for the UNC's leadership whenever the next internal elections are held.

He left this possibility open while speaking with reporters at the Debe Hindu Primary School on Thursday.

"We are some time away from that (internal elections)." Moonilal said, "It may be due at the end of the year. It may not happen this year. This year is local government elections."

In the past, the UNC and PNM have put their respective internal elections on hold in years when a national election (general or local government) is taking place.

Moonilal did not say whether he would contest the next UNC internal election as part of a slate led by Persad-Bissessar, lead another slate against her or be part of a rival slate led by someone else.

"My take on that is when we meet that bridge, we will cross that bridge."

In the last UNC internal election in December 2020, Persad-Bissessar's slate scored a landslide victory over a slate led by former government minister Vasant Bharath.

Article 18 of the UNC's constitution says the party's political leader serves for a three-year period and all other members of the UNC's national executive (natex) serve for two years. Unless they resign or are removed from office before their tenure ends, natex members remain in office until their successors are elected.

This means Persad-Bissessar's term of office as UNC political leader will end in December 2023, unless internal elections are held before that time. Party sources said internal elections are due around December.

But with local government elections due by November, they questioned whether Persad-Bissessar would call the internal polls before or after those elections. One source claimed it made sense for her to do so before November to galvanise UNC councillors to support her. Another source believed the internal elections would be rigged in Persad-Bissessar's favour.

Persad-Bissessar was elected UNC leader on January 24, 2010, when she ousted UNC founder and former prime minister Basdeo Panday from that post.

Moonilal unsuccessfully challenged Persad-Bissessar for the leadership in the internal election in December 2015. He recalled that a former member of his Team Loyalist slate from that election, Davica Thomas, was involved with a group of former Caroni (1975) Ltd workers that clashed with UNC supporters during a march held by the UNC's Women's Arm in Chaguanas on March 20.

Moonilal reiterated his belief that Thomas and the former Caroni workers who were with her on that day are being misled.

"One or two individuals may have political ambitions.I ask them to take heed and protest where you should protest to."

Moonilal said former Caroni workers who have not received two-acre agricultural lands promised to them since Caroni closed in 2003 should take their protest to the PNM instead of "chasing down the UNC Women's (Arm) every week."

He claimed money allegedly being used by the PNM to persecute UNC members could have been used to develop agricultural plots for former Caroni workers. Moonilal declared that after seven years in office, the PNM has not "even developed a cemetery plot for a Caroni worker."

After the incident in Chaguanas on March 20, Thomas complained to the police about being assaulted. She said she will now wait to see what happens next.

Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee questioned whether Bharath was supporting Thomas and the former workers. In a statement on Tuesday, Bharath rejected similar claims made by Persad-Bissessar at a UNC virtual meeting on Monday.

"These continued unwarranted,obsessive and baseless attacks on me show a heightened level of desperation that she has lost her grip on the party and on reality."

In a separate statement on the same day, the UNC Women's Arm defended Persad-Bissessar and claimed Bharath was obssessed by his "hatred towards her."