Sunday 11th January 2015 Ricardo Gladiator Welch Added Guardians Interview By Clevon Raphael WARNER: THOSE WHO LEFT ILP ARE ABSOLUTELY OF NO SUBSTANCE With the exception of one person—Anna Deonarine—Jack Warner says the other members of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) who have quit were people of no substance. That’s the charge made by Warner in the wake of the resignation by the party’s former political leader Lyndira Oudit, who cut all ties with the ILP when she quit as a member of the party last week. Warner, MP for Chaguanas West, who offered a flip-flop position on whether he would return to the fold of the United National Congress, said he was not prepared to constantly bash the People’s National Movement because that party was not in office. Q: Mr Warner, when are you going to resign from the ILP…so many others have already done so? A: (Refusing to see the facetiousness of the question, sitting in a pensive mood at the Arouca office of the Sunshine newspaper, of which he is the publisher, on Thursday morning) On the contrary, we have decided to publish how many persons have joined this party. Far too often the media have seemed to want to punish you or even kill the ILP, but the ILP will not die. The way they glorify the persons who leave, people of absolutely no significance... Q: Mrs Lyndira Oudit, political leader; Robin Montano, chairman… Montano came and left, it wasn’t the first time he has done that. He was, of course, a fly-by-night…He was chairman of your party and you have described him as a fly-by-night? A: In terms of when he came, how he left...The only person of substance who has left is Anna Deonarine. Q: Doesn’t this raise a fundamental question in the context of your political judgment if, as you said, the others were of no substance? A: Montano, sure I found him deserving to be chairman of the party, but had he stayed and performed the way I thought he would have...but you don’t come and walk out of a party simply because the party didn’t give him the kind of solace he wanted, and I maintain that Miss Deonarine was the biggest loss sustained by the ILP. She left because she did not like Mrs Oudit’s elevation. She made it quite clear to me that she could not accept Oudit as the party’s political leader and to this date, she has not gone on any media circuit to bad mouth the ILP. Inshan Ishmael said the same thing about Mrs Oudit, that he did not want to truck with her. Q: What was the problem they had with Mrs Oudit? A: They found that she was too judgmental, that she lacked leadership qualities, intemperate and most of all, she made decisions which were not in the best interest of the party. Mr Warner, I am not here to defend anyone of those who left, including Mrs Oudit or Mr Montano, but... (Blowing his nostrils into a kerchief several times during the interview as a result of contracting the flu) Ok. Sure, sure, that is not a problem. Q: But the fact that these people saw it fit to abandon the ILP, doesn’t that speak something about your leadership style? A: I told my executive not to judge her by my leadership, and I did not take back the leadership from Mrs Oudit, she gave it up. Mr Panday took back the leadership from Mr Dookeran. The ILP would not die because of the resignation of Mrs Oudit. Some things she has said makes me believe her heart is still in the UNC. Q: Is your heart still in the UNC? A: (Emphatically and with a measure of disdain) Me? My heart is not in the UNC. I will never go back to the UNC. I will never go back to the UNC. Q: Mr Warner, you are telling me this at 8.15 on the morning of January 8, 2015, you will not return to the UNC fold? A: The UNC and I may work together if, of course, that party reforms itself (briefly stops, requesting a caller on his cell phone to call back later). Hear nah, any party and I could work together once that party has the same core objectives as the ILP and it is corruption free. Q: A common charge made by those who have left is that you are holding a vendetta against the Government and that you are planning to take the ILP into the bosom of the PNM? A: (Rather dismissively) I have heard so. What they fail to understand is that they want me to keep attacking the PNM, but the PNM is not in government. Why I should do so when the UNC was elected to do better than the PNM and the PP has done worse? Mrs Persad-Bissessar has good intentions, but she is being ruled by a cabal over which she has no control. We promised the people open and transparent government; we have not kept those promises. I have also heard of this vendetta talk and if you would do some research about what Mrs Oudit said about the Prime Minister, it would blow your mind. The knowledge I have now, Clevon, I did not have then. Q: Let us assume that on the night of the forthcoming general election the ILP has found itself in a position to join with the PP or the PNM to form the next government, which side would the ILP chose? A: (A slight contemplative pause) Let me be honest with you, it is difficult to say at this time. I don’t know what the UNC would be in a new incarnation. I know what the PNM will be and therefore, it has to be based on what their respective manifesto says. Q: Isn’t it strange, Mr Warner, that you have levelled some serious criticisms against the PP administration, particularly Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar... A: (Interjecting with a frown). Yes. I said so... Q:Even apologising to the electorate for encouraging them to vote in the PP, and at this time you are still pondering that question? A: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is not the same person as candidate Kamla Persad-Bissessar... (he goes on to speak about donations to the Government). Q: Hold on please, Mr Warner, aren’t you now doing as the parliamentarians would say in the legislature that your are imputing improper motives towards the PM since we don’t know with any certainty this charge is a valid one you are making? A: Mr Raphael, until she can say where she got the money from for the Christmas toys, the nation is free to make its own judgment. Q: I still think you are threading on dangerous waters and during the last Christmas season, the Government did disclose the origin of the toys that the Prime Minister herself distributed throughout the country? A: (Placing one hand on the left side of his chest) Let me tell you something, Mr Raphael, I know much more than the public and I won’t say much at this stage, but I maintain that I know much more than the public. And do the companies named in the story do they make toys? Which were not cleared by the Customs before entering TT? Q: How do you know that as a matter of fact? A: I know that and I am not implying improper motives. I am saying I have evidence of what I am talking about the system that operates. At the end of the day in this country, perception is reality. Q: I personally do not subscribe to that saying...and weren’t you yourself a victim of that same perception about improper dealings within the FIFA organization? A: Yes. Yes. And that is why up to this day I am still fighting it, because of that very same description of perception in this country. And up to this day, nobody, nobody has been able to charge me for anything. None! (Right hand goes back slightly thumping the left side of his chest). They might accuse me of working hard and if that is a crime, so be it. With Clevon B Raphael, Dayne Francois
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 09:17:20 +0000
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