THE EDITOR:
WE are a group of senior Customs Officers who are crying out for justice, equity and fair play.

In the next few weeks a new Comptroller of Customs and Excise will be foistered upon us.

The present Acting Comptroller will be demoted to make way for this new Head of Department who is not from within the ranks of the officers.

We are very concerned in that the career officers can no longer reach the top.

Once this happens, we predict that the other top posts will be filled with persons from outside the Division.

We are the officers who go out in the field and risk our lives on a daily basis.

Death threats are quite common these days.

A few years ago an officer was murdered in cold blood in the line of duty.

Now, the time that we should reap the benefits of our labour, the rewards are going to persons outside of the Division.

How can this be fair?

What would this do to the morale of the Division?

We are the first line of defence in this country.

There are several qualified officers in the Division ranging from law, economics, management, public administration and international relations.

Why was one of these officers not chosen?

It is really a sad day.

THE EDITOR:
IN 1970, just before elections in Dominica, a particular member of Parliament with no small following was intent on contesting the elections.

The Freedom Party preferred to field another candidate.

In an attempt to settle the matter amicably, the late Dame Eugenia Charles went to the home of the politician to meet with him and some of his core supporters.

The attempt failed and Dame Eugenia, never one known for her use of diplomatic language, stated that she had no political friends.

I refer to that because of the present chaos within the United National Congress (UNC).

What I gathered from the statement of Dame Eugenia was that no person could be considered her friend simply on the basis of their common support of any particular political goal or party. Friendship was based on other considerations -- not politics. Although, the statement was made only two years after she openly entered the political fray, surely her experience had taught her that politics and politicians are fickle; that support today is absolutely no indication of support tomorrow; and that those who openly oppose you today may be your most ardent and loyal supporters tomorrow.

Indeed, in politics, a person can easily be foe today, comrade tomorrow, and foe again the following day.

And vice versa.

One sees today the scenario where former or perhaps even present “friends” are publicly sniping at each other.

Or former friends who had become sworn enemies now vocally supporting the very persons whom they had so openly and publicly denigrated.

This behaviour is perhaps not as marked within the People’s National Movement (PNM).

But can one forget the late Muriel Donawa-Mc Davidson -- an icon of the PNM if ever there was one?

A person who quite obviously so revered Dr. Williams?

Yet, in her latter years, she so turned her back on the PNM that she even graced the UNC with her presence on a political platform. And there are many others-both dead and alive.

So, does politics really have a morality of its own?

And what is that morality anyway?

Are we now headed back to a repeat of the days of Panday/Shah leadership of the United Labour Front (ULF) and the musical chairs in the occupation of the position of the Leader of the Opposition?

Or are we to be confronted with the scenario where the Political Leader has no say in or little sway over the selection of candidates if a general election were to be called now?

Or even worse, where the Political Leader is not even considered for or fails to win selection as a candidate for the party that he leads?

These do not now seem to be so far-fetched as they may at first glance appear.

So we get back to Dame Eugenia Charles’ statement.

Is Jack Warner still a friend of Panday?

Is Ramesh once more a friend of Panday?

Are Panday and Dookeran friends?

Are the Patriots friends of the Progressives?

Yes, one may have colleagues, comrades, companions even.

But what I do believe, is the assertion made in October 1970 by the late Dame Eugenia.

There are no political friends.

THE EDITOR:
I ENJOY reading your paper which gives us insights that other papers don’t provide us.

I like your comments about United National Congress (UNC) politics and wish to add my own.

There is no chance for the UNC in the next election because the party is disorganised.

While UNC MPs and executive members are fighting amongst themselves, the party’s various institutions have been neglected and at the same time the People’s National Movement (PNM) has organised.

No one in the UNC is focusing on building the party’s political machinery and preparing it for elections.

Instead, the focus is on the fight for Opposition Leadership and control of the party.

Winston Dookeran and the Progressives should end their desired to take over the party which no one can dispute was built by Basdeo Panday and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.

They should instead re-direct their energies to get the party to function effectively.

When Panday and his de facto deputy, Ramesh, were building the party from 1990 to 2001, they had functioning groups served by committed volunteers.

Since Panday and Ramesh parted company in 2001, all the party groups disbanded and virtually no work has been done to prepare the party for elections.

It was not surprising, therefore, that the party lost the elections in 2001, 2002, 2003 and the local by-election seat last July.

If people take a serious look at the UNC, they will notice that there are no functioning constituency groups or party groups. There is no monitoring of the constituencies to determine the party’s strengths and weaknesses.

There are no foot soldiers and election workers to do the party’s work.

The electoral list is not being monitored to check for fraudulent registration or to determine voter support for the party.

Thus, neither the party nor the constituencies have a feedback mechanism on peoples’ feeling about the party and its true political strength.

Also, there is a dysfunctional executive that is fighting amongst themselves instead of fighting the PNM.

The executive is not planning on winning an election but on putting out internal party fires.

The party does not hold constitutional conferences and there are no serious discussions on party affairs.

There has not been a serious party Congress for years.

So the party executive does not get any feedback of what is happening in the constituencies in order to develop a workable plan to win over the electorate.

When Ramesh and Panday were a team, Panday used to get Ramesh to organise the party.

But since he was gone, no one did the work.

Panday should tell his colleagues that the party sorely missed the service of Ramesh because, honestly speaking, there is no one in the UNC to re-activate party machinery.

Among Opposition figures, only Ramesh has the experience and skills to build a party.

Dookeran is not the type to go into the political trenches to build a party and lacks the skills or experience for such an important task.

It seems that Dookeran is only interested in inheriting, not building.

This may explain why he and the Progressives are fighting Panday for leadership.

Because he has no one else to help him rebuild the party, Panday should retain the services of Ramesh and put him in a leadership position if wants the party to get back into government.

Otherwise it will be another five years in the wilderness for the UNC and its hapless supporters.

The party should not be operating on Press releases and fights. Panday should appoint Ramesh to head an election committee to look for candidates, prepare a manifesto, and monitor the voters list for fraudulent registration.

THE EDITOR:
THE decision by government to charge former workers of Caroni (1975) Ltd., who accepted VSEP, the sum of $80,000 for housing lots has left these retrenched employees shocked and bewildered.

This cost was never a part of the VSEP contract as the housing plot was offered in acknowledgement of the weak severance package as per Panday Union agreement.

This was made clear by former Agriculture Minister John Rahael at a meeting inside Caroni compound.

To come at this stage to charge poor peasants such a huge sum is a betrayal of the VSEP contract.

It also flies in the face of the cliche that the “People’s National Movement (PNM) cares”.

The PNM cares only for its own as recipients of National Housing Authority (NHA) land pay only $25,000 inclusive of infrastructure cost.

This is racial discrimination to its highest.

This goes hand in hand with the PNM Government racial allocation of NHA housing units.

Senator Christine Sahadeo should know that there will be a political cost to the PNM which has been benefitting from crossover support from the UNC due to disenchantmen with Basdeo Panday.

Once he goes the PNM is doomed.

Sugar workers are therefore appealing to UNC Leader Winston Dookeran to intervene on this matter urgently.

THE EDITOR:
ANYWHERE Jack Warner finds himself, controversy is sure to follow.

He has now entered politics and is single-handedly attempting to destablise the United National Congress (UNC), by trying to unseat Basdeo Panday from his legal post of Opposition Leader.

He thinks that breaking rules in the Football Federation will be acceptable at governmental and Constitutional levels.

The laws are crystal clear in the TnT Constitution, as it refers to the Opposition Leader in Section 83 (2).

This is not the Football Federation.

What Jack is trying to accomplish, is exactly what he is doing at present.

He has been appointed Special Advisor of the Football Federation, and he is illegally controlling the entire affairs of football in TnT.

He thinks that he is God’s gift to mankind.

He is now trying to destroy Jamaica and Nakhid, because if TnT loses, may God forbid, he will have a scapegoat to blame.

Jack, the longest rope has an end.