Talking woman political leadership in Trinidad
IN our 15-member Caribbean Community it is still a rarity for a woman to be elected leader of a parliamentary party, or to become Head of Government or Head of State.
This may explain why there are lively public discussions and much political excitement currently in Trinidad and Tobago over the likelihood of a woman — Kamla Persad-Bissessar — being elected to lead the opposition United National Congress (UNC), of which its founder-leader remains the irrepressible, charismatic Basdeo Panday.
Talk about women’s power in the UNC camp is the newest political development in Trinidad and Tobago, with open encouragement coming from across ethnic and gender boundaries.
Trinidad and Tobago remains a nation where all the massive expenditures to change the architectural landscape and prepare its citizens for a repeatedly promised “developed country status” by 2020, have not resulted in much political comfort for the government of Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
After the Christmas season, and before the intensification of preparations for Carnival 2010, the UNC is planning to settle at its January 24 delegates’ conference a leadership battle that currently threatens its future as an alternative government to that of Manning’s People’s National Movement (PNM).
The indicators point to a very bruising battle ahead to replace Panday with Persad-Bissessar — the woman he has mentored for many years. Currently a deputy leader, Persad-Bissessar opted this past week to declare her intent to contest for leadership of the party next month.
It is certainly not going to be easy, nor is it going to be easy to predict with any certainty the outcome, although the cries of support for “Kamla” come from among the rank and file of the UNC, as well as from women and other admirers in the wider multi-racial society. One of her staunchest and most influential backers is FIFA’s ebullient Jack Warner, the other deputy leader of the UNC.
He is known for his capacity as a “generous” funder. Having originally announced that he would personally challenge Panday for leadership, Warner decided this past week to instead back Persad-Bissessar, while also planning to contest the party’s chairmanship.
Panday is currently both leader and chairman. He has been facing recurring, widening criticisms for “political arrogance” and a “proprietary approach” in leadership of the UNC.
Be that as it may, it nevertheless seems ill-advised at this stage to write off the crafty Panday who has survived many political battles and has overcome various challenges.
Those developments span the period from when he co-founded the United Labour Front (ULF) to its subsequent transformation into the UNC and the later incorporation of an “Alliance” wing to bring about the current acronym UNC-A.
The women trio
Having a woman as the leader of a major parliamentary party is, as noted earlier, a rare political development in the Caricom region.
The few exceptions would be Guyana, Dominica and Jamaica.
In the case of Guyana, Janet Jagan, a formidable champion for political independence and the fundamental rights of women, was a co-founder of her People’s Progressive Party; the first woman prime minister and first woman executive president.
In Roseau, the lawyer Mary Eugenia Charles founded and led the Dominica Freedom Party from 1968. By 1975 she was elected parliamentary opposition leader and became prime minister five years later.
Jamaica’s Michael Manley once jokingly referred to her as “that old battle axe” during the years of widening intra-regional political tension following the bloody collapse of Grenada’s revolutionary experiment and the United States military invasion in which she had played a key role, alongside Edward Seaga and Barbados’ Tom Adams.
In Jamaica, the honour of becoming the first woman leader of a parliamentary party — the People’s National Party (PNP), one of the oldest in the Caribbean — fell in 2006 to Portia Simpson Miller, popularly known as “Sister P”.
She took over from the retired PJ Patterson, the country’s longest serving prime minister; led the PNP into the September 2007 general elections and lost to the Jamaica Labour Party under Bruce Golding.
Now that Golding’s 28-month-old administration is facing enormous challenges to overcome worsening fiscal, social and economic problems as it prepares to introduce new taxes following a stringent aid agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Simpson Miller talks as though she senses a return to power of her PNP.
It is in Trinidad and Tobago, however, where political excitement is on the rise with a mixture of the reported declining popularity of both Prime Minister Manning and Opposition Leader Panday.
More significantly are speculations that Kamla Persad-Bissessar, a fierce public speaker, will defeat her mentor Panday for leadership of the UNC.
The bad news of declining popularity among traditional support bases for Manning and Panday came from an opinion survey recently conducted by the well-known political scientist, pollster and columnist, Dr Selwyn Ryan.
While both political leaders have scoffed at the poll results, even questioning Ryan’s credibility, Panday seems to be facing his toughest challenge yet to avoid being ousted as leader at the coming UNC delegates’ congress by the woman politician who had been a very loyal and critical supporter during multiple political and personal challenges.