CARIBBEAN TODAY


 .. FEATURE ............... 1


 The rise and fall of a T&T political giant

~ Basdeo Panday goes from prime minister to prison inmate


 PETER RICHARDS

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC -
When he was prime minister of this oil
rich nation, Basdeo Panday said his
greatest desire would be to use his
tenure in office to unite the citizens of
Trinidad and Tobago "so that we might
better face the challenges ahead."
 But last month, a Magistrate's Court
sentenced the 72-year-old lawyer to two
years imprisonment on charges that he
knowingly failed to declare to the
Integrity Commission a bank account he
and his wife, Oma, held in London while
he was prime minister. In addition, Chief
Magistrate Sherman
McNicolls also ordered
that the TT$1.6 million
($258,000) in the for-
mer prime minister's
accounts be confiscat-
ed.
 Panday had, dur- .
ing his trial, told the -
court that he knew 4
nothing about the
account that was in his
wife's name, and
Lawrence Duprey,
chairman of the
Colonial Life
Insurance Company Panday
(CLICO), the
Trinidad-based con-
glomerate, testified that he had indeed
given over one million dollars
($166,666) to the Pandays for the edu-
cation of their children in London.

THE END?
 The ruling may well spell the end
of a political career for Panday, the
first indo-Trinidadian to have been
elevated to the Office of Prime
Minister, when in1995, his United
National Congress (UNC) formed a
coalition with the National Alliance for
Reconstruction (NAR) to defeat the
People's National Movement (PNM).
 A former trade unionist, and cur-
rent Opposition leader in Parliament,
Panday's legal battles are far from
over. Along with his wife and other
ministers of his administration, he is
before the courts on other corruption
related charges.
 He was fond of telling his support-
ers that "if you see me fighting with a
lion, feel sorry for the lion," reflecting
perhaps his love for drama having
graduated from the London School of
Dramatic Arts in 1960.
 Writers Samaroo Siewah and
Roodal Moonilal, in their book enti-
tled "An Enigma An,%\\ rd noted
that Panday's mL'nrL it klLJdL rNhip
has been sufficient to steer him
through the roughest times adding, "of
Panday's magnetisability there can be
no doubt."

FALLOUT
 Political scientist and University of
the West Indies (UWI) lecturer Dr.
Hamid Ghany once referred to Panday
as "a craft mover," a "political animal
who can't really be under-rated.
 "He has been down and then
bounced back so many times, his
instinct for survival is tremendous.he
has that ability to stay on," Ghany


noted.
 But a former UWI lecturer and
political scientist, Dr. John La
Guerre, said the guilty verdict against
Panday last month may well spell the
end of a charismatic political career
that in recent months had been
bogged down by political infighting
within the UNC and Panday's own
legal troubles.
 "He would be badly wounded
and would be the end of his career,"
he said, adding that the verdict could
also affect the UNC's chances in the
next general elections.
 "What we are witnessing is that it
 is a very critical stage for
 the UNC," La Guerre
 : said.
 Married and the
 father of four girls,
 Basdeo Panday was
 born in the southern
 rural village of Prince
 K Town on May 25, 1933.
 He worked as a cane
 weigher with the state-
 owned sugar company,
 .. Caroni Limited, as a pri-
 mary school teacher and
 also as a civil servant
 attached to the San
 Fernando Magistrate's
 court.
 His involvement in
the trade union movement began in
1956 when he served as legal adviser
to the powerful Oilfield Workers
Trade Union (OWTU) before head-
ing off to London to study law.
 In 1962, he became a barrister
at law, Lincoln's Inn, and three years
later graduated from the London
University with a bachelor's degree
in economics.
 On his return home, Panday
entered into private practice, but by
1973 had moved to the top position
within the All Trinidad Sugar and
General Workers Trade Union, a
position he held until 1995, when he
resigned the position because of his
elevation to the post of prime minister.

FIREBRAND
 A firebrand politician in his early
years, Panday's biographers recalls
the many labels that have been used
to describe him. To some he was a
capitalist/imperialist stooge, commu-
nist and socialist Brahmin. Nowadays
he has been dubbed a friend of the
"parasitic oligarchy", a term Panday
himself used effectively to describe
the capitalist business sector in
Trinidad and Tobago in his days as an
Opposition politician.
 His rise to the highest political
office in the land has been a checkered
one. In 1976 he founded and led the
United Labour Front (ULF) entering
Parliament that same year. He was
Leader of the Opposition during the
period 1981-86 and led his ULF into
the coalition of opposition forces to
form the NAR that successfully ended
the 30-year unbroken rule of the PNM.
 But Panday's involvement in the
new government lasted only two
years after public disagreement with
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 8)


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