The coming of a lion

THE EDITOR: As a nation, we are facing unprecedented times. In our political history, we have never needed a strong and unified opposition as badly as we do now. The Government has been able to erode our parliamentary sovereignty, dispose of our national patrimony, insult our elders and disrespect the hard-working taxpayers.

We often hear of the critical role that the opposition must play in a functioning democracy and some of those responsibilities include: constructive criticism of government, restricting arbitrariness of the ruling party, safeguarding the liberty and rights of people, preparing to form the government, expression of public opinion.

Enter the UNC.

In sport, it is common when a team performs in an underwhelming fashion that the coach and/or captain usually resigns. In major companies, in the private sector especially, when profits are down or a company records losses, the CEO and/or board of directors are held to account and accordingly step down. In the great UNC, however, there is a culture of “birth-right” leadership whereby once reaching the top you remain until death or disgrace. This must change.

After the defeats of 2015 and 2020 by similar margins (one-seat difference), the lack of desire to analyse the loss was equally met with the reluctance to take ownership of the defeat. Heads of organisations ought to be held accountable for their performance and that of their team. The leader of the party on the first occasion partially took the blame (with no consequence, of course) and partially blamed “the big bad men” or, in other words, former members of cabinet, appointed by her.

In the recent vaccination chaos caused by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, PM Rowley jumped to his defence, taking the blame for the mishap. How nice it must be to take “guilt-free” and “consequenceless” ownership of a disaster. Sounds familiar?

On the second occasion in 2020, where the leader of the UNC had the perfect opportunity to replace failing MPs and fill the House of Representatives with vibrant, hardworking, respectable individuals to woo the electorate, this opportunity was yet again squandered. Save for the lion from Oropouche and a few others, this is now publicly dubbed as the weakest parliamentary line-up ever seen in TT. The UNC replicated the style of the West Indies cricket team, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar has had the best of days and now, like everything else in life, the time has come for change. This is no attack on her as a person as she has tried her best with the abilities and skills that she possesses but nothing lasts forever. The future of the UNC and the future of TT go hand in hand as the PNM has shown its inability to govern fairly, to handle crisis and more so to exhibit transparency in any form or fashion.

The future in both regards lies in the hands of the lion from Oropouche East, Dr Roodal Moonilal. Few politicians can boast of the balance of academic excellence, political and street smarts, fiery debating skills and work ethic second to none of this parliamentarian of 20 years. Simultaneously handling portfolios such as minister of housing, leader of government business in the Parliament and at times acting prime minister is no easy task.

Moonilal rose from the ranks of the youth arm of the UNC under founder Basdeo Panday and earned his stripes as a prodigy of the “Silver Fox.” Who better to lead a party that currently is lost at sea and who better to preserve what remains of Persad-Bissessar’s legacy? His escalation would also return a sense of meritocracy to the party as the younger generation would once again believe that anyone can rise from the youth level to lead the party in future.

Persad-Bissessar was a formidable prime minister but opposition politics requires a different rigour. The journey back to respectability is a hard road that will require fresh legs and a steady hand as the nation battles four more years of PNM hardships.

To take the UNC from the depths of institutional decay, the stain of internal nepotism and the brand of being weak would require a learned student of politics with the fire to lead and ambition to succeed. Petty press releases, undercooked appointments and creepy dialogue can no longer be the way the UNC does business. The nation needs a strong opposition during these times of tyranny.

Moonilal has paid his dues and the time for change in the UNC is fast approaching. Who better to hold the Government to account than the lion from Oropouche?

DR B BANNER

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