Giving himself a performance rating of seven out of ten, Congress of the People (COP) leader Prakash Ramadhar says he will take to his grave the public perceptions that under his leadership the party lost its identity and confidence.
Ramadhar said this while explaining his decision to resign as COP leader on April 24.
He spoke to reporters in the lobby of the Parliament, Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.
“So I take it (blame), I will carry it to my grave,” he stressed, adding that the People’s Partnership (PP) government brought many benefits to the people of T&T.
Ramadhar made it clear that he was not resigning as a member of the party and that he will continue to serve his St Augustine constituency.
“So the issue of whether I should demit as MP for St Augustine, the constituents will determine that,” he said.
Asked whom would he take directions from on voting in Parliament, Ramadhar said while an MP takes directions from his party, the COP always allowed MPs to “act with what you consider best, taking the views of your party, but you must exercise your personal discretion and conscience on matters. So I remain open.”
He said he rejected calls for his resignation after the People's Partnership government was defeated in general elections on September 7 because he did not want it to appear that he was being chased out of office.
“That must never happen,” adding that his decision to give up the leadership now was “a deliberate and voluntary exercise in my discretion as political leader to call early elections.”
Ramadhar was elected in 2015 and his term was constitutionally due to expire in 2017. His announcement to resign on Wednesday came a year ahead of the elections.
COP sources said Ramadhar had become disenchanted with the continuing criticism and “badgering” that dogged his tenure with the PP government and after the general election. Ramadhar had been the COP’s second leader since succeeding former COP leader Winston Dookeran in 2011 and gained a second term in 2014 in a battle with his former chairman Carolyn Seepersad, who had been supported by Dookeran.
Ramadhar said he was seeking to have not only elections for a new political leader of the party on April 24 but also national executive elections. He said he decided to tender his resignation now because there was need for the party to stabilise itself after the election defeat, with him being the only COP member who was re-elected on September 7.
He said despite criticisms by some while he was in the PP government, he remained to ensure the then government remained intact.
Ramadhar said he was “not abdicating my responsibility to my party or the country and therefore the COP will have a voice in the Parliament.”
He also said the COP “needed some level of change.”
Responding to claims from many that he was responsible for the party's defeat at the polls, Ramadhar said, “If that is so I will take that responsibility.”
He said, however, the last government did “tremendous good” during its term despite claims of corruption. He said there has been no evidence to support those claims.
Ramadhar said he did not have the full support of many of the COP membership. “It was a huge disappointment for me to see my party and members before the (Sept 7) elections campaigning for and with the PNM and celebrating on election night at Balisier House and calling themselves COP.”
He said he was not prepared to endorse any candidate for the position of political leader.