Congress of the People (COP) leader Prakash Ramadhar says there is an underground campaign against the party and there was need to get rid of it. Ramadhar’s statement came shortly after Rufus Foster, one of the candidates in the party’s Sunday leadership elections, threw in the towel and announced he was backing candidate Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan. Foster made the declaration during the live televised COP debate at Centre Point Mall, Chaguanas on Thursday night.
Congratulating chairman Seepersad-Bachan for gaining the support of Foster and his team, he added, “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but there are some who want to burn it in a day.” He said when the COP joined the People’s Partnership coalition government in 2010, a lot of members were unhappy about it.
Responding to comments that many arms of the COP became non-functional under her chairmanship, Seepersad-Bachan shifted the issue to Joseph Toney, saying when he was chairman they could not even get a quorum for a meeting. Asked to comment on the debate over the legalisation of marijuana, Seepersad-Bachan said she did not agree with legalising substances harmful to health. But those caught with it should be given help, she said. “You have to take a different approach.”
Sport Minister and COP executive member Anil Roberts was suspended by the party’s national executive after the release of a video showing a man resembling a government minister rolling a substance believed to be marijuana in a hotel room with two women. Seepersad-Bachan was part of the executive which suspended Roberts and called for his resignation as a minister. She has since repeatedly said she stands firm by the COP’s code of conduct.
Told she embraced people who were part of the rumblings in the COP and had done little as chairman to quell internal dissent, she said Ramadhar encouraged warring among different factions. Responding to a question from Ramadhar, she said she attended only one of 13 COP meetings because they were held on days on which she could not attend. The tension between Ramadhar and Seepersad-Bachan was brought out clearly during the last of three debates.
The rift between the two senior party members was highlighted by candidate for Sunday’s leadership post, Lincoln Douglas. Douglas told Ramadhar and Seepersad-Bachan it was clear there was a big conflict between them which was causing the party to be in the state it was in, and he asked how they planned to resolve it. Neither gave satisfactory answers and Douglas seized the opportunity to state he was best fitted for the leadership post.
He said, he was prepared to save the country even with his life. Told about the hats he wore and asked how the country could see him as a serious politician, Douglas replied, “But I am the most serious politician here.” He gave a short biography of his political life and added, “My hat demonstrates I am an individual and cannot be bought or sold.” The debate, started by the Elections and Debates Commission to create a new picong free political culture in T&T, almost descended into the regular campaign trail style.
Noisy groups of supporters of the political rivals seemed to care little that they were a live televised audience. Moderator Josanne Lennard had to repeatedly plead for discipline and order among them.