COP wrangles over party leadership

INTERIM Congress of the People (COP) political leader Prakash Ramadhar has called on interim party chairman Lonsdale Williams to provide him with pertinent information about the COP’s operations by December 27.

His call comes after a statement issued by Williams which said Ramadhar has not been chosen as COP interim leader.

In a signed letter dated December 23, bearing the COP’s insignia, Ramadhar said, “Given the urgency of the state of decay the party has been allowed to fall into, and the impending general elections, I require these reports to be presented to me on or before December 27, 2024.”

Ramadhar has asked Williams for information including a complete list of all national executive and national council members (elected or appointed, dates of their appointment and their titled positions), minutes of the last ten natex meetings, the financial health of the party (with a copy of current accounts detailing income and expenditure over the last three years) and a report on the current active membership of the party.

He said all of this is necessary for him “to ascertain the general health and status of the party and its organs.”

In a statement on December 22, Williams said, “As chairman of the COP I would like to clear up any misconceptions in the media of our natex having met on Tuesday 17th December 2024 (or any other date) to endorse or ratify any position or positions with the COP or by the COP.”

He added, “For the record, I wish to state that neither our national executive nor our national council have met to endorse the appointment of an interim political leader as per articles 17 and 18 of our constitution.”

Williams promised “as soon as such decisions are made...our membership and then the population will be notified.”

In an interview on December 20, Ramadhar said he had been appointed interim leader after   former interim leader Kirt Sinnette resigned on December 9.

He added his priority was to fix the COP first before the party committed to joining any coalition to contest the next general election.

In a daily newspaper report on December 21, UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said smaller political parties wishing to form a coalition with the UNC must publicly provide details of their strengths before they can be considered to join a UNC-led coalition.

In that report, Persad-Bissessar also said she had been speaking with Ramadhar before and after he became interim COP leader.

On December 12, Persad-Bissessar held talks with representatives of the Movement for National Development (MND), Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP), COP, Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), Public Services Association and other groups about creating a coalition of interests.

The NTA, COP and HOPE (Honesty Opportunity Empowerment Performance) had been having coalition talks before December 12.

On December 20, Griffith and HOPE leader Timothy Hamel-Smith said a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) had been created for parties wishing to join an NTA/COP/HOPE coalition.

Griffith said, “With the NTA having already signed an MOU with another political party, it is interesting that one of the political leaders already stated that there is no agreement made with either the NTA, HOPE, UNC, and other organisations such as the unions, even though the MOU was actually signed and confirmed by his predecessor.”

He added it was also interesting “that his very first comment was not to build his own party but it was to openly praise Kamla, which is indeed extravagant news.”

Griffith, who has publicly claimed Persad-Bissessar is trying to create a fake coalition to ensure the UNC wins 21 seats in the election, did not name the person or party he referred to.