Quick Facts
Biography
The Hon. Basdeo Panday (born 25 May 1933) was the fifth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001; he also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1976–1977, 1978–1986, 1989–1995, 2001–2006 and 2007–2010. He was first elected to Parliament in 1976 as the Member for Couva North. He is the former Chairman and party leader of the Opposition United National Congress. In 2006, Panday was convicted of failing to declare a bank account in London and imprisoned but as of March 20, 2007, that conviction has been quashed by the Court of Appeal. He was granted bail on April 28 pending the outcome of his appeal due to his health condition and the poor state of health facilities at the Arouca prison. On May 1 he decided to resign as Chairman of the United National Congress, but the party's executive refuse to accept his resignation. However, he lost the party's internal elections on January 24, 2010 to Deputy Leader and now former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar by a large margin.
Basdeo Panday is married to Oma Panday née Ramkissoon and has four daughters Niala, Mickela, Nicola, and Vastala, one from his first marriage to Norma Panday née Mohammed who died in 1981. In 2006, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
Early life
He was born in Princes Town, Trinidad to Harry "Chote" Sookchand and Kissoondaye Panday, who were both first-generation East Indian Arrivants to Trinidad and Tobago. Kissondaye's mother, along with her mother, came on the trip via Fiji (they had missed the boat going back to Fiji, so they took the one to Trinidad instead). Sookchand's Uncle, Joseph Hardath Dube was the General Secretary of the East Indian National Association, and was responsible for enrolling Panday in Presentation College, San Fernando. Before the college enrollment, Panday attended New Grant Government and St. Julien C.M. School.
Political career
Upon his return to Trinidad, he entered politics and ran unsuccessfully for Parliament as a candidate for the Workers and Farmers Party in 1966.
His most prominent debut into local politics was as early as 1973, when he forayed into the politics of one of the most prominent unions of the day, the Trinidad Islandwide Cane Farmers' Association (TICFA). He faced antagonism from the then leader of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Bhadase Sagan Maraj and the leader of the Union, Mr. Rampartapsingh, who had succeeded Mr. Maraj. These were the favourites of the then Prime Minister, Eric Williams, for he was concerned about the "left-wing radicalisation" of the union membership.
It was in this context that Basdeo Panday came to the fore. Basdeo Panday was able, through backdoor negotiations with the then union leader of TICFA, and then subsequently with the then Prime Minister, Eric Williams concerning the wages and salaries of sugarcane workers, to claim control over the union as the undisputed leader of TICFA. In May 1973, he became the President General of All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers' Trade Union. In 1975, he spent two weeks at the Golden Grove Prison for leading a march with trade unionists which was deemed illegal.
Basdeo Panday's ambitions did not stop there. Exploiting the fractural divisiveness that existed within the then opposition of the Democratic Labour Party, Panday formed an alliance with other union members, George Weekes and Raffique Shah. The three formed the United Labour Front and in 1981–1986, he was the Opposition Leader.
He co-founded the National Alliance (with A. N. R. Robinson Political leader of the Democratic Action Congress, Lloyd Best of the Tapia House Group, to fight the 1981 elections, and later co-founded the National Alliance for Reconstruction with Robinson and Karl Hudson-Phillips Political Leader of the Organisation for National Reconstruction. Following a convincing electoral victory in 1986 he was made Minister of External Affairs and International Trade. Panday acted as Prime Minister in 1987 while Robinson was out of the country. In 1988, Panday, along with Kelvin Ramnath, John Humphrey and Trevor Sudama were expelled from the party after a disagreement with Robinson. It was claimed by them at the time by them all that Robinson was high-handed and authoritarian concerning with dealing with them and decision.
He then founded the Club for Love, Unity and Brotherhood (CLUB 88) which became the United National Congress. In 1992 their candidates won more seats in that year's election than the then NAR. On such a basis, the members of what was to become the UNC, argued this in parliament to become the opposition members (newcomer Hulsie Bhaggan defeated political heavyweight Winston Dookeran for the Chaguanas seat), but the party only won 13 of 36 seats nationally. It improved this margin to 17 in the 1995 General Elections. It could not form the majority in parliament to form the Cabinet, so, with the support of the two seats held by Robinson and the NAR, Panday was appointed the country's first Indo-Trinidadian and the first Hindu Prime Minister. A.N.R. Robinson became the first Tobagonian to become president.
Under the leadership of Mr. Panday the UNC went on to win the 2000 election but internal strife in the party forced another election in 2001 which resulted in a tie between the UNC and the PNM. That December, President A.N.R. Robinson awarded the PNM the post of Government of Trinidad and Tobago.
It must be noted that it was Basdeo Panday who was responsible for making ANR Robinson both the President and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. ANR Robinson accepted both positions, but was always antagonistic and very ungrateful to Mr. Panday.
Legal problems
On May 31, 2005, Panday, together with his wife, Oma and former UNC MP Carlos John and businessman Ishwar Galbaransingh (chairman of Northern Construction Limited) were arrested on corruption charges. The State alleged that the Panday's had received TT$250,000 on December 30, 1998 from John and Galbaransingh in exchange for giving Northern Construction a construction contract for the Piarco Airport Development Project (PADP). Panday refused bail and chose to remain in prison for a short while.
Panday, Mrs. Panday and John were placed on TT$750,000 bail, while Galbaransingh was placed on a TT$1,000,000. This was called a punitive bail both by supporters of the UNC and by former Attorney General Ramesh Maharaj, a sometimes political opponent of Panday. On June 7, 2005, bail was reduced to TT$650,000. A day later, Panday accepted bail after being jailed for over a week.
Ironically, the evidence for the charges laid against him was the product of two administrations, one of which was Panday's, and, in this administration, the evidence of the charges was due to investigations done by a U.S. private investigator hired by the Ministry of legal affairs when Basdeo Panday was Prime Minister. The law's amendment, under which Basdeo Panday was charged, also was a product of the Basdeo Panday administration.
On March 20, 2007, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction against Panday for failing to declare a London bank account, based on the possibility that he may not have received a fair trial.
The three Court of Appeal judges agreed that there was in fact a real possibility of bias by Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls in his April 24, 2006 ruling, which found Panday guilty on three counts of failing to declare a London bank account to the Integrity Commission for the years 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively, contrary to Section 27 (1)(b) of the Integrity in Public Life Act 1987. Information that surfaced later on, linked Chief Magistrate McNicolls to a multimillion-dollar land deal and a company associated with one of the main witnesses in the Basdeo Panday trial. This information, along with the fact that Chief Magistrate McNicolls refused to give evidence for the criminal prosecution of the Chief Justice, which caused that prosecution to fail, were the main arguments used by Panday's lawyers in his Appeal Court hearing.
2005–2010
In September, 2005, Panday nominated Winston Dookeran (current leader of the Congress of the People) as his successor as political leader. Panday himself was nominated for the party Chairmanship. On October 2, 2005 both Panday and Dookeran won their posts unopposed (see United National Congress). Since appointing Dookeran to succeed him, the UNC has been divided, with many members calling for Panday to hand over power absolutely to Dookeran in the form of the Leader of the Opposition. Panday failed to do so, and with the Opposition MPs split 8-8 on the issue, Panday has remained as the leader of the Opposition.
In February 2006, Panday invited estranged former Attorney General, Ramesh Lawerence Maharaj back into the UNC. This led to divided opinion inside and outside the UNC and saw the revocation, by Panday, of the appointment of Senator Robin Montano, a vocal opponent to the return of Maharaj. Following this came the resignation from the Senate of Roy Augustus. Panday replaced Montano with Dr. Tim Gopeesingh, a loyalist and CEO of the UNC and Augustus with former Trinidad and Tobago sprint star Ato Boldon. Boldon stated that he was first invited to become a senator by FIFA Vice-President and Deputy Political Leader of the UNC, Austin "Jack" Warner.
Now in the twilight of his political career, he was re-called as co- leader of the United National Congress (Then United National Congress-Alliance)with Austin "Jack" Warner after unsuccessfully contesting the elections.
In 2007, the UNC Alliance lost in the general elections. Many critics blamed the newly formed party Congress of the People of 'splitting the vote'.
In a move that sparked controversy, Basdeo Panday was suspended from parliament in April because he was not sure if he was going to use his laptop computer during a debate. When asked by speaker of the house if he intended on using the laptop for the debate, Mr Panday replied "I do not know." Panday argued that in a debate, one is never sure if they will speak and if they would need the use of a laptop. The speaker created more controversy when he announced the next day that Panday would be suspended till December.
Since early 2009 Basdeo Panday was challenged for the leadership of the party by a small coalition of Opposition MPs led by the party's deputy political leader, Austin "Jack" Warner and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj informally known as "RamJack G". Jack Warner is also taking Panday to court over Panday's allegations that Warner is a drug lord.
Many citizens continually scoff at Jack Warner and Ramesh Lawerence Maharaj and have branded them as traitors. In fact Jack Warner is viewed as very crooked owing to his business transactions involving FIFA, and the misappropiation of funds entrusted to him by various football federations. At this time, there is a court case in Trinidad where Warner is facing extradition proceedings from the United States Office of the Attorney General.
2010–present
On January 24, 2010 Basdeo Panday lost in his bid to be elected Political Leader of the United National Congress once again. He suffered a defeat at the hands of new Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar. He did not contest the post of chairman hence he no longer sits on the executive of the United National Congress. On 25 February 2010 President George Maxwell Richards revoked the appointment of Panday as Leader of the Opposition and replaced him with Persad-Bissessar after the majority of Opposition MPs indicated their support for her. Panday did not participate in the general elections held on May 24, 2010 and hence his term as a Member of Parliament ended.
Today, Mr. Panday serves as the Chief Administrator of the Basdeo Panday Foundation, a charitable organization which is situated in the Reinzi Complex in the town of Couva.
