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Conditioning the public mind...

As “hot” as last week’s House of Representatives session was due to former Couva North MP Basdeo Panday, Tuesday’s Senate session was hotter.

Literally.

After the “heat” of Panday’s issue shelved the Lower House, slightly increased temperatures in the Upper House from lack of air-conditioning knocked out Tuesday’s sitting.

Not to be outdone in terms of explanations, next week’s usual Tuesday sitting has gone to Wednesday to accommodate Tobagonian members whose island observes the annual goat racing “holiday” on the Tuesday after Easter Monday.

That goat races and high temperatures could knock the Senate sessions out of kilter might not both have been all that significant at another time.

Senate sessions have been shunted forward slightly almost every year to accommodate the Easter Tuesday activities in Tobago.

But with an intensified spotlight on Parliament due to the Couva North issue and the indefinite suspension of the Lower House, concerns about the legislative processes might hardly fall by the wayside.

High Court deliberations on the Couva North issue are likely to rule out Lower House sessions for at least another week.

On Wednesday, deputy Speaker Hedwidge Bereaux projected how sessions could be held to make up for lost time after the House resumes:

“We’re only losing Fridays, so if we lose several sittings we could easily make up by meeting several days in a row.”

At the rate the Senate is proceeding, it may hardly require a break before the House reconvenes. Unless court deliberations are lengthy.

Five bills are pending on the Senate agenda, only one of which was started Tuesday.

But, the “people’s business,” much touted by both political sides—especially in Parliament’s recent circumstances—may now be viewed with some concern, considering comments by PNM’s Ken Valley last week.

Pressed on the contention that the House was for legislating rather than election “campaigning,” to which he had alluded, Valley had replied:

“Every day Government goes to Parliament to present its view to condition the public mind and the Opposition criticises that information with a view to conditioning the public mind for the next election. That’s the reality.”

But even given that the Parliament is a political arena of sorts, independent leader Eastlyn Mckenzie, for instance, believes the legislative process and genuine interest in the people’s needs must take precedence:

“The politicians cannot frame law from public platforms. So such broad descriptions (Valley’s) diminishes the worth of the Parliament.”

Tuesday’s session never allowed independent senators the chance to express the indignation they must feel at Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s telling confirmation that he would dump independent posts, given the chance.

Nor did it afford the Opposition opportunity to diss Manning’s disparaging—and equally revealing—view that the public lacks the sophistication to “take an executive presidency to its logical form” (sic).

Opinions which would only vindicate the opposition from some quarters to his bid for wholesale constitutional reform.

The issue is one of PNM’s election items which may likely have to be re-tailored (probably along with any notion of the constitutional majority Manning is seeking.)

As brief as Tuesday’s session was, it denoted another step on the election road. As other events have confirmed.

Government has taken pains to tie up loose ends in terms of various crucial matters likely to become election issues: from public sector wage increases and infrastructure to NIS benefit hikes and laws to protect the elderly.

Manning, whose weekends now include constituency walkabouts—in St Joseph today—also engineered a way to get public feedback on crime via the upcoming crime consultation before he finalises election plans.

Manning chose the end of term—rather than when the problem peaked—to obtain feedback on the number one challenge to Government’s tenure. Undoubtedly with a view to assisting PNM’s manifesto planning.

But he is unlikely to require such help in terms of smelter plans, since loud public feedback indicates that this initiative should occupy the same amount of manifesto space it did in previous elections.

None at all.

Campaign manager calls it quits

PNM Diego Martin Central MP Ken Valley will be campaigning with a new team manager since the incumbent, David Sheppard, is moving on. Valley last week confirmed Sheppard is leaving. He said a replacement has not been chosen yet.

Sheppard said Monday he had managed the last three election campaigns, was involved in the constituency for 12 years and was the Diego Martin Central chairman for nine years.

He will step down as chairman as well as campaign manager,

“I just felt I needed to let new blood take it from here and I needed some time for myself. I’m entering business also,” Sheppard added.

His first cousin, Bobby Sheppard of Lange Park, Chaguanas, is manager of COP’s Chaguanas head office, he confirmed.

“But I’m not going with another party,” David Sheppard added. “I’m ‘handing over’ at an appropriate time before elections and the constituency has deputy chairman Magna Williams-Smith. It is perhaps the best organised PNM constituency and I’m prepared to help as much possible in the transition before elections.”

Couva North being spruced up

A coat of paint was being slapped on exterior fixtures of the former Couva North MP’s constituency office by a man on a ladder last week Friday around 2.48 pm, passers-by noticed.

A spokesman for the Government’s property management unit—under which the building falls—said Wednesday it is still allocated to Parliament.

Parliament officials have dismissed any link between the sprucing up of the office and the High Court’s deliberations of former MP Basdeo Panday’s bid to reclaim the seat.

“It has to be maintained especially since this is an election year. From the time we took control of the office last year and assessed its state we knew work would have to be done including painting, since at some point there will be a Couva North MP after elections. This is the office for that MP whoever it may be,” they added.

Damage control

While the UNC is hoping court deliberations on the seat will yield results which will give the party back some of the lustre and support it lost to the COP, Panday’s return to the spotlight has been particularly bad timing for the COP, just beginning to gain public momentum.

Nor would COP’s position on the Couva North seat—calling for Panday to be “properly reinstated”—have endeared the fledgling party to the UNC base it needs for forward propulsion.

COP’s Ganga Singh, right after the Appeal Court quashed Panday’s conviction, had confirmed the situation would be a “boost for the UNC.”

The longer that boost—and Panday’s political “high”—obtains, COP would also expect corresponding lows.

COP chairman Roy Augustus, asked Thursday if the party had felt any impact from Panday’s return, said: “Of course... there’s impact across the entire political spectrum. We’d be foolhardy not to consider that impact. We’re ensuring it does not harm us in any major way. So we’re out in more force than usual in areas, with walkabouts all weekend and speaking to people to reassure them.

“It’s made us redouble energies. Whatever the outcome of his matters will alert our strategies in terms of electoral battles. Whatever level of the game Panday is in will determine various things and our strategies must always take that into consideration.”

On whether UNC’s elevated stocks would make COP reconsider accommodation, Augustus said:

“It would be a betrayal of what we’ve been saying over the last year if we now—for the sake of convenience or short-term gain—jump back into something we left. The challenge is for the people to do it, if they seriously want transformation of T&T, new politics and unity.”

Augustus said COP has 60 general election nominees so far. Screening begins Thursday.

And UNC’s resumes.

PNM Princes Town nominee

Ramesh Ramsumair, owner of Penal’s Simplex Entertainment Complex, is among PNM nominees for Princes Town South/Tableland, that executive confirmed.

Other nominees are Councillor Francis Paul and Ortoire-Mayaro MP Franklin Khan. The latter is nominated despite the expected April 19 start of his court case.

PNM leader Manning said the party will decide if to allow candidates who have matters before the courts.

Nominees for the new La Horquetta-Talparo seat, officials confirmed, are Felix Clarke (Citrus Growers Association chairman), Frank Seon (head of former UNO advertising), and executive member Foster Cummings.

PNM’s Noel Gale is tipped for D’Abadie-O’Meara, officials there said.