(Trinidad Express) Former prime minister Basdeo Panday will not be battling the United National Congress (UNC) internal elections, but his daughter Mickela and a team of young people are in the running.
Panday announced last week he will, as an advisor, lead a slate called “Generation Next” in the party elections carded for March 2012.
He said the rank and file of the membership are not happy with the leadership of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who is also UNC political leader and they want to reclaim their party.
Speaking to the media following the closing ceremony of a series to observe the 50th anniversary of bicameralism at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port of Spain, Mickela said she has to be screened and selected in order to fight the elections.
Asked if she will be contesting any position, she responded: “I don’t know yet, I have to be selected and screened like everybody else.”
Mickela served as the member of Parliament for Oropouche West from 2007 to 2010. Her political career ended in 2010 when Persad-Bissessar swept the party’s leadership and then government.
On her father’s advisory position, she said, “I always felt there was a role for him to play, he has an extreme wealth of knowledge and experience which I think has been under-used so I’m going to take advantage of that.”
In 2010, Panday said the internal elections was “stolen” and was not fair.
Asked if he has any fears that the process might be flawed, he said “We’ll try to see that it is not stolen but we can’t guarantee that it won’t be, but if it is stolen we shall put into operation plan B”. He did not divulge the details of Plan B.
Since announcing his plan to reclaim the party, Panday met Persad-Bissessar face to face yesterday.
There were chuckles in the audience as Panday graced the stage to accept his medallion from the woman who once called him her “political guru”.
Persad-Bissessar was all smiles when she presented the token to Panday who accepted and made his way off the stage quickly.
Asked her sentiments in presenting the token to Panday, Persad-Bissessar said “As a former prime minister he deserves it as did all the other former prime ministers”.
“Somebody had to do it,” said Panday when asked to comment.
Former presidents and prime ministers, including Panday, AN R Robinson, Noor Hassanali and Patrick Manning were honoured with tokens of appreciation at the ceremony.
Former house speakers and senate presidents were also honoured.
Notably absent however was Manning and former house speaker and former head of the police service commission Nizam Mohammed.
