Basdeo Panday

The Honourable Basdeo Panday SC, MP
Sampson Nanton interviews Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Basdeo Panday in 1997.
5th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
In office 9 November 1995 – 24 December 2001
President	Noor Mohamed Hassanali A. N. R. Robinson
Preceded by	Patrick Manning
Succeeded by	Patrick Manning
Leader of United National Congress
In office 10 September 2006 – 24 January 2010
Preceded by	Winston Dookeran
Succeeded by	Kamla Persad-Bissessar
In office 16 October 1988 – 2 October 2005
Preceded by	Inaugural holder
Succeeded by	Winston Dookeran
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 12 January 1987 – 8 February 1988
Preceded by	Errol Mahabir
Succeeded by	Sahadeo Basdeo
Leader of the Opposition
In office 17 December 2007 – 24 February 2010
Preceded by	Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Succeeded by	Kamla Persad-Bissessar
In office 17 October 2002 – 23 April 2006
Preceded by	Patrick Manning
Succeeded by	Kamla Persad-Bissessar
In office 10 September 1990 – 8 November 1995
Preceded by	Patrick Manning
Succeeded by	Patrick Manning
In office 1976 – 29 October 1986
Preceded by	Raffique Shah
Succeeded by	Patrick Manning
Minister of National Security
In office 25 January 2001 – 24 December 2001
Member of Parliament for Couva North
In office 25 February 2010 – 8 April 2010
In office 5 April 2002 – 28 August 2002
In office 24 September 1976 – 18 September 1981
In office 9 February 1988 – 9 September 1990
Personal details
Born	(1933-05-25) 25 May 1933 Princes Town, Trinidad
Political party	Workers and Farmers Party United Labour Front National Alliance for Reconstruction United National Congress (1989-present)
Spouse(s)	Norma Mohammed (died 1981) Oma Ramkisson
Children	Mickela Panday Nicola Panday Vastala Panday Niala Panday
Parent(s)	Harry "Chote" Sookchand Kissondaye Panday
Relatives	Joseph Hardath Dube (grand uncle) Rabindranath Panday (brother) Subhas Panday (brother) Leela Panday (sister)
Residence(s)	San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
Education	University of London
Occupation	Lawyer Politician Actor

The Hon. Basdeo Panday SC, MP (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 United National Congress. In 2006, Panday was convicted of failing to declare a bank account in London and imprisoned; however, on March 20, 2007, that conviction was 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 refused 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). He has four daughters: Niala, Mickela, Nicola, and Vastala. Niala was born to his first wife 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

Panday was born in Princes Town, Trinidad to Indo-Trinidadian parents. He attended university in London, obtaining degrees in law, economics, and drama. He also appeared in several acting roles, including Nine Hours to Rama (1963), Man in the Middle (1964), and The Brigand of Kandahar (1965).

Political career

Panday's political career began in 1966, when joined the Workers and Farmers Party. In 1973, he was recruited to the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers' Trade Union (then the All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union). He staged an internal coup, becoming the union's President General .

In 1975, he spent two weeks at the Golden Grove Prison for leading a march with trade unionists which was deemed illegal.

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.

Legal problems

On May 31, 2005, Panday, his wife, Oma, 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, Mrs. Panday and John were placed on TT$750,000 bail, while Galbaransingh's bail was placed at TT$1,000,000. Panday refused bail and chose to remain in prison . 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.

On March 20, 2007, the Court of Appeal overturned 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

Basdeo Panday and the Ambassador of Finland

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. 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.

2010–present

On January 24, 2010 Basdeo Panday lost in his bid to be elected Political Leader of the UNC 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.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Nine Hours to Rama	Laudryman
1964	The Winston Affair	Indian Correspondent

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	The Moonstone	2nd Brahmin Priest	1 Episode
1962	Saki	Abrim	1 Episode
1963	ITV Playhouse	Indian Guest	1 Episode

See also

• Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
• Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian
• Hinduism in Trinidad and Tobago
• Indo-Caribbean
• British Indo-Caribbean people
• Hinduism in the West Indies
• Trinidadian and Tobagonian British
• Trinidadians
• List of Trinidadians
• Indian
• Biharis
• Awadhis

External links

• NALIS Biography of Basdeo Panday
• Official Website of the United National Congress