Following early post-election rumblings that have seemed to cast responsibility on Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar for the defeat of the People’s Partnership government in September, it was almost inevitable that some would raise doubts about her capacity to take the United National Congress (UNC) into office again. And now, after a series of hints, former Minister of Housing Roodal Moonilal has announced his intention to seek the leadership of the party at elections to be held towards the end of this year.
It is still left to be seen whether Mrs Persad-Bissessar will herself decide to contest those elections, though indications seem to have been that in the absence of a strong challenger she would have done so. But now there can be no doubt that she is faced with a colleague apparently key to the running of her government over the last few years.
Her performance as party leader and Prime Minister is being discussed in terms of deficiencies being now brought to light, as if they were not visible over the five-year term of the government. And in that connection, little emphasis is being placed on the fact that, clearly with the support of the general party leadership, she contested the recent general elections as leader of the UNC, hardly any mention being made during the campaign of the fact that the last elections were run on the basis of the UNC being part of a coalition, the People’s Partnership (PP).
But it is fair to say that it had become increasingly clear that the dynamism of the PP had rapidly diminished for a variety of reasons, including the decline of some of its popular support as the party faced the challenges of government; and in particular, as it also faced the decline in the support for the UNC’s main coalition partner, the Congress of the People (COP), originally led by Dr Winston Dookeran, subsequently Minister of Foreign Affairs in the PP government.
The PP had provided a degree of middle-class, multi-racial support for the essentially Indian-based and led, UNC. But it became apparent that as time went on, the UNC leadership, in which Dr Roodal Moonilal appeared to play a major part along with Mrs Persad-Bissessar, gave little credence to the COP’s influence, leading to a situation in which Dookeran seemed to become increasingly disenchanted, to the point, eventually, that he declined to participate in the recent elections.
Close observers of the functioning of the government and the UNC itself, may well have now been feeling that the criticisms being levelled at Mrs Persad-Bissessar by what might be called the Moonilal faction, which has included Minister of Education and Leader of Government Business Dr Tim Gopeesingh, may well apply to Moonilal himself. But it seems clear that he has decided, in the face of the criticisms being levelled against Mrs Persad-Bissessar, that he has decided to jump the gun and seek to cleanse the UNC early of what have been perceived as negative influences and images.
Dr Moonilal will be well aware that a significant underpinning of the People’s Partnership government was a coalition involving participation of non-Indian forces from the middle classes of Trinidad. This was a lesson learned since the early 1980s when ANR Robinson, leading an essentially minority party, the Action Committee of Dedicated Citizens (ACDC), joined forces with the United Labour Front (ULF) led by Basdeo Panday, and also with the middle-class based Organisation of National Reconstruction (ONR), led by Karl Hudson Phillips, creating a certain degree of unity among the various class and racial streams, to form the eventually victorious National Alliance for Reconstruction(NAR) in the elections of 1986.
Moonilal and his colleagues, now seeking to influence the UNC base, and being conscious of the fact that it is still influenced in some degree by Basdeo Panday, will need to be capable of indicating that he has a new group of colleagues who are capable of holding that base.
On the other hand, with the recent victory of the PNM, there can be little doubt that those who, assuming that they defeat Mrs Persad-Bissessar, constitute the new leadership of the UNC, will be conscious of the fact that the PNM is itself under new leadership, well aware of the necessity, in the contemporary politics of Trinidad & Tobago, to seek the cooperation of the differing political and racial streams that constitute the political support bases of the parties of the country.
It is, of course, yet to be seen whether Mrs Persad-Bissessar, in the face of this challenge from those who are the younger elements of the party, will proceed to contest the leadership elections. Yet, it does seem to be the case that what is before her is a challenge for a generational change in the party, which still has substantial support that derives from Basdeo Panday’s work and influence. It will be interesting to see where, if Mrs Persad-Bissessar decides to contest the leadership, Mr Panday will choose to place his support and that of his supporters from the trade union movement.
