Mixed Signals... (is the COP being marginalized?)

There are some very strange maneuvers taking place within the corridors of power that is prompting some serious questions as to the goings on in the People's Partnership hierarchy.

Is there a plan to sideline the Congress of the People now that victory at the polls has been attained?

From all appearances it would seem so.

Why was Garvin Nicholas given a plum Ministerial portfolio (one he is ill qualified to handle I must say) and Nicole Dyer and Rocky Garcia, who did much more for the coalition than Nicholas could ever do were slighted?
Is it because Garvin fought the elections in a UNC shirt? Was the equality of members of the coalition just a ruse?
Where is Wendy Lee Yuen, who single handedly kept the needs of farmers, the agri-sector and the environment on the front burner of National issues?
Why is Winston Dookeran not the Deputy Prime Minister, and given that title in his portfolio?
Nicole Dyer has made the Diego Martin Central 'safe seat' a marginal and contestable seat for the very near future by effort alone, why is she not in a Youth Ministry or some other appointment as a reward for her efforts and as an encouragement to others to join up, as was the case with David Abdullah?

Jack Warner, talking his usual 'bag of ass', actually berated Rocky for not beating Dr. Rowley (used him actually to deflect pressure off himself [Warner] and questions as to his own [Warner's] credibility to hold High Office).
If there was ever a PNM safe seat it was Dr. Keith Rowley in Diego Martin West, and Rocky's performance at the polls was unprecedented.
He (Rocky) is building political respectability among the middle class and would have won in a less hotly contested constituency (say Diego Martin East).

Why did the massive 'Congratulations' banner at the People's Partnership thank you gala have to say 'brought to you by the UNC?'

Maybe there is a message there for the COP members.

What's my rant about?

Without the Congress of the People, the People's Partnership was doomed to fail and they have not been sufficiently recognized nor rewarded for that fact.

The Congress of the People brought something intangible but essential to the partnership, a political capital without which the PNM would be in power today.

What exactly did they bring?

They brought victory at the polls in a heady mix of respectability, credibility, trustworthiness, cross party appeal, religious tolerance, hope and middle class acceptance, without which, any UNC challenge was dead in the water.

Make no mistake about it, without that sheen of 'New Politics' provided by the COP, the UNC was going to fail at the polls because (and the historical record bears this out) the party was polling less numbers than even madman Manning's PNM on their own.

Why?

-Because the UNC lacked credibility to hold office and their last stint ended in a fiasco with scores of its members on varying charges or before the Courts.

-The UNC was not respected or trusted outside of the sugar belt, and rank and file Trinidadians had serious misgivings with Jack Warner and anything he was involved in.

-While the MSJ was 'possibly' bringing the labor vote, mainstream Trinidadians were hard-pressed to choose between the devil that was the PNM and the deep blue sea that was the UNC under Jack Warner.

-Without the credibility gloss applied to the Partnership, the TOP had no hope of convincing average Tobagonians to support the UNC. After having been dealt with so flippantly and arrogantly by the last UNC administration, Tobagonians remembered both of their Senators being fired for not voting with the then administration's schemes (which incidentally went on to bring the UNC Government down in flames).

-Non committed voters and the middle class would have had no reason to join the fray, and this election would have had an even lower voter turn out than the last one.


That the Congress of the People needs to emerge from the shadows of the UNC and establish themselves as equal partners in Governance is important to the future viability of the coalition, if the People's Partnership is not just a fancy name to a hollow promise set up to take advantage of the voters once again.

Something to think about...