Dear Editor,
For the first time in the entire Caribbean a African won an election against the traditional big parties in an overwhelmingly Indian constituency in Trinidad. That Jack Warner was able defeat the candidate of his former UNC party in their own constituency undoubtedly speaks highly of the voters. They rejected both the Indian-based UNC and African-based PNM candidates by wide margins. We seem to be getting along don’t we?
So what lessons can be learnt from this epoch-making Warner victory? All the scandal of international corruption which Warner faced, including fraud, did not seem to matter. When his own UNC party refused to nominate him for the safe seat which he resigned from abruptly he rebounded by forming his own Independent Liberal Party (ILP) and overwhelmingly secured the confidence of the heavily populated Indian community. This unprecedented event tells us that:
1. Jack Warner is now directly responsible for his consistency of Chaguanas West and no one else. 2. Whatever Warner does right/wrong is no reflection on any others. 3. Trinidadian Indian voters have boldly demonstrated the ability to think and vote regardless of race and across party politics. 4. A Caribbean African is quite capable of being exclusively embraced by Indians when he champions Indian interests and promotes such national interest for the greater good of all. 5. Warner made it very clear that he will not do anything to bring down the ruling Trinidadian coalition led by Prime Minster Kamla Persad-Bissessar knowing this will hurt his Chaguanas constituents.
What indeed can AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan and PNC leader David Granger learn, if anything, from Jack Warner? With no mandate or national consensus for shared governance or a coalition as both are outlawed by Guyana’s constitution where do we go from here? With the AFC’s ship slowly sinking after the Nigel and Cathy Hughes personal misadventures, the AFC is faced with quite a predicament which cannot be hidden any more. What it has archieved by being aligned with APNU obstruction, is anybody’s guess. But it could have used its strategic clout in trading its votes on a case by case basis to benefit its constituents. But bitterness among some AFC leaders has proven hard to overcome.
Jack Warner must be some astute politician who knows not to threaten the established status quo until he gets stronger. Surprisingly he is slowly getting there, with a trickle of prominent UNC politicians defecting to his new ILP each week. When Warner gets stronger would he challenge the Indian based UNC government to become Prime Minster? Even Basdeo Panday the former UNC founder leader was dumped by UNC members after he became a liability. Would Warner commit political suicide and challenge his constituents’ allegiance to remove a broad-based but Indian national government? The UF, WPA and ROAR all made similar mistakes and are now history.
The AFC’s close alliance with the APNU has been hemorraging them Indian votes nationwide. Now the conflict of interest matter which surrounds the Hughes couple has only one cure.
Many outstanding African AFC supporters who sincerely want a third way are ashamed about what their party has degenerated into. It is sure to cost African votes and more apathy nationwide. Let’s see whether the AFC will avoid the mistakes of the others.
Yours faithfully,
Vassan Ramracha