Drama in the Session... (UNC, Who's your Leader?)

I am being inundated by rumors of plots and counter plots within the UNC Government, of conspiracies afoot to challenge the outcome of May 24th 2010 by shady deals, some of which are almost too Machiavellian to believe.

At this point, it is all conjecture, theory, rumor and allegation, but as there promises to be shake ups and changes soon (some say as early as Carnival Sunday night), I thought I would make what little that I know available to the country as a whole.

First off, you need to be aware that according to our Constitution, the Member of the House who commands the most support as conveyed to the President is recognized to be Prime Minister, and I have been reliably informed that the President has to be guided accordingly.

Should Members decide for any reason to throw their Parliamentary support behind anyone in the House other than the current Prime Minister, we could have a change of leader outside of an election, commonly referred to as an ouster.

Plainly put, there are rumored to be alleged conspiracies afoot to wrest the Prime Ministership from Kamla Persad Bissessar by means of a palace coup of sorts, and to place this now transient support in none other than a major Party financier.

There are also rumors of infighting among at least three 'factions' within the Party sabotaging each other and this is what is at the heart of the Government coming across as inept.

These rumors go further to say that the appointment of and the Prime Minister's continued support of George Nicholas as the Chairman of CAL despite Warner's protests and public confrontations on the matter is to her a line in the sand and to him a firmly flung gauntlet of sorts; That the AG's best attempt at quelling the dispute has done little to solve the substantive issue, that of power and authority and who really calls the shots within the Party.

I have also been told that the existing CAL Board members were motivated to approach the Prime Minister with a zero sum proposal regarding removing the Chairman which she flat out refused as George is one of 'her' people, in a sea of other appointees of questionable loyalty.

That the Reshmi Ramnarine appointment and the subsequent leaks of sensitive information surrounding her appointment leading to her resignation are also at the heart of a Party rumored to be at war with itself.

Members at cross purposes voicing public opinions outside of their domain and contradicting what is trying to be held as a Party line is supposedly another indicator of the tearing taking place at the seams.

If this is true then many dots start to connect themselves and maybe the media should be investigating this.

The question I put to the national community is this - Is Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar besieged within her own Government?

Does she command enough 'loyalists' to survive an attempt like this?

What of the COP Parliamentary members, to whom do they pledge their support, and is it governed by a COP Party line?

These questions have to be asked an answered as regardless of the shenanigans and horse trading taking place within the Parliament and without, the UNC is by and large an East Indian Hindu Party, and these developments may well plunge central Trinidad into chaos.

I have been told that many past UNC stalwarts are aware of these developments and are taking steps to prepare for the coming battle for the sugar belt and the void in 'authentic' leadership.

Now if this or any part of it is true we could be in for some interesting times as the very stability of our Government is brought into question.

In light of all of these rumors I would like to call on the Prime Minister as this country's elected leader to address the nation as to the veracity of these allegations, and to make known to the general public if there is any truth to these disturbing rumors.

These are already very turbulent times and the people of this country and this nation can ill afford more political bacchanal on any front.