Dear Rushton Paray;
I don’t know you, but I know a couple of people in the UNC who think you should be the next leader. I don’t see what they see. Prima facie, you look like you have all the political charisma of Winston Dookeran — that is, not so much. But, like Dookeran, I can see glimmers of decency, flashes of competence, a work ethic.
Those qualities, with a good team, could easily win an election in this environment. And I, like many people, have been harassing every UNC person I know for the last two years to “do something” about the sick old woman choking the UNC and the country. The longer Kamla stays atop the steaming pile, the harder it becomes to prise her off.
So I was pleased to see you make your move. But then you appeared to back-track. Now it seems you’re paralysed as the ass-kissers and pot hongs come out to bark to keep they wuk.
If this is what it seems, Rushton, you haven’t even made it out of the gate. You don’t make a move like this without strategy. And if there is a strategy, or plan, I don’t see it.
So here’s my advice:
Stage 1: If you’re trying to dislodge the leader, say so. Come out and declare (political) war. Wage a campaign. Now is time for fight, not flim-flam. Say what everybody who mouth not full of gobar knows is true — Kamla Persad Bissessar is a sick, spiteful woman can never win another election, and she will burn down the UNC if she can’t be Prime Minister again. Just like Panday in 2007, just like Ramesh Maharaj when he threw a lasso around two jackasses (Sudama and Maraj) and pulled down the government in 2001. People must understand that by supporting her, they are supporting the PNM. Every financier has deserted her. The next campaign will be a cheap joke with the PNM laughing all the way to a next term.
Stage 2: If she does not call internal elections, resign your seat. At that (or this) point, you have nothing to lose. You are not going to be reselected for Mayaro, even if you wanted to be. So make that a strength. Resign your seat, and let the UNC fight a by-election. Say in advance that you’ll keep out and keep quiet. (No campaigning for the PNM, no running as an “independent”.) If the UNC can’t at least get the number of votes you got, they’ve lost. Or better yet, they lose outright. Then, proposition proven; the leader needs to change.
Stage 3: Other MPs who are not craven coprophiles should also resign. I know there are MPs who support you. Like you, many don’t need the money or attention that comes with office. Let every one of them resign (at three-month intervals) so the UNC gets tested in those seats. By the end of that, the electorate would know whether the UNC can win an election.
This strategy is the only one you have, Rushton. Stay, you’re a dead man politically. Leave now, you leave with dignity — a first for Trinidad politics. I hope sitting in Parliament does not mean so much to you that you hold on to it till the bitter, rotten end.
And what would you be leaving? Kamla has already set the pothongs at you, and you can’t win a dogfight against a posse of starving pothongs. You don’t try to fight pothongs, you get the hose out, as Inshan Ishmael showed Cro Cro.
Good luck to you. If you take my advice, I’ll be glad to help you. You can contact me at the email address.
Raymond Ramcharitar