Basdeo Panday was not humble in defeat. Panday instead chose to launch an attack against those who voted for Winston Dookeran's COP party and any other party for that matter. Panday needs to come to the realization that his lust for power pushed Winston Dookeran and with him all of his supporters forever away from a Panday run UNC.
In his concession speech Panday bluntly stated, "I want to say, every time one of your family or friend is murdered, kidnapped, robbed, raped, I want you to go and stand up in front the mirror and look at yourself. Look at your face. That is what I want you to do. Then I want you to hold your hands together and prayer. You are responsible because you have voted for the PNM and COP, or not at all".
Ask yourself, what type of leader says something like this? Rather than analyze the results and realize that if Basdeo Panday stepped down as leader of UNC Alliance, and had allowed Winston Dookeran to take the reins he just might be sitting on the other side of the fence in Parliament today. However he chose not to, pulled in FIFA VP Jack Warner for financing and pushing Kamla to the side as well.
Panday also said in his post election defeat speech that, "When you look at the results tonight, you will see that if the COP had not divided the votes, that the PNM would not be in the government today. The UNC would be in government today". That should have been re-phrased, "When you at the results tonight, you will realize that if I did not kick Dookeran out the party, the votes would not have been divided, PNM would not be in power today, and the UNC would be forming the government with Winston Dookeran as the next Prime Minister".
As one person wrote to the local newspaper in Trinidad "Mr Panday is blaming everyone for his party's defeat - the PNM, the COP, the people who voted for them, even the people who did not vote at all. We should be ashamed, he says. Yeah, right. He is blaming everyone except himself for his party's defeat. But wasn't it he and Ramesh who could not hold their government together in 2001? Wasn't it he who couldn't step back and let others with less or no baggage take over the UNC's reins? Bye-bye Bas. Welcome to your new bitter "struggle'' on the Opposition benches. It's where you belong."
