By Clint Chan Tack Thursday, November 5 2009

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Upbeat talks: Prime Minister Patrick Manning, centre, St Augustine MP Vasant Bharath, right, and Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, left, in an upbeat m...

RENEGADE United National Congress (UNC) Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner yesterday condemned Tuesday’s meeting between Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday as an unholy alliance which “poses a serious threat to democracy as there becomes no obstacle to dictatorship and tyranny.”

Congress of the People (COP) political leader Winston Dookeran also slammed the meeting, describing Manning and Panday as “voices of the past” and said it was time for them to ride off into the sunset. Manning and Panday said their meeting was held to discuss matters pertaining to crime and constitutional reform. They also stated it was normal in the Westminster system of government for prime ministers and opposition leaders to meet from time to time to discuss issues of national importance

In a statement, Warner rejected the reasons given by Manning and Panday for their meeting at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.

“When the Leader of Government and the Leader of the Opposition engage in the cutting of private deals and political accommodation then they are working as a team,” Warner declared.

Government is against the ropes on crime and constitutional reform, according to Warner, who expressed doubts about Panday’s willingness to work with Manning at this critical time in the PNM administration.

“One cannot understand why the Leader of the Opposition would compromise on them, unless the trade off is substantial. We must therefore ask for what price was this slice of our democracy sold? The country knows what Mr Panday has bargained off to Mr Manning but they have not been told what Mr Panday is getting in return,” he stated.

Recalling that Panday has “long sung the chorus” that constitutional reform must not be piecemeal, Warner claimed Panday is now supporting the establishment of an executive president as outlined in the Working Document on Constitutional Reform despite the fact that many citizens are wary of the sweeping powers and immunities that come with that political model.

Warner said Panday should know better than to trust Manning “after the experience of the Crowne Plaza Accord where investigations were promised into the Labidco and Caroni Racing Complex affairs and these have not materialised more than eight years later.”

Stating that Government has already admitted that the Special Anti-Crime Unit (SAUTT) is not a legal entity, Warner asked why did Panday “agree to go soft on this issue?”

Panday has said the Opposition would consider supporting SAUTT, anti-gang and intercept legislation which Government will be bringing to Parliament in order to help the authorities to win the war on crime.

Addressing a public meeting in Curepe hours after the Manning-Panday meeting, Dookeran declared the veteran leaders may believe they have fooled citizens.

“I don’t know if they believe that the people of this nation have been hoodwinked by these same gatekeepers, who have kept their respective flocks in check because as we well know, it is two flocks that they are appealing to.”

Dookeran said if Manning and Panday want “to have integrity in the discharge of the offices that they hold on behalf of the people of this country, they must reveal the secret agenda of that meeting which took place today.”

Stating the COP is enlightening citizens with a new brand of politics through initiatives such as its “Axe the Tax” campaign, Dookeran claimed: “They (Manning and Panday) have come together to keep us out of the politics of the future.” Boasting the COP is the only “genuine party of unity” in the country, Dookeran told his audience “the voices of the future will silence the voices of the past” when the party opens its new “flagship house” in Port-of-Spain on November 15.