Building brand new road map
By COREY CONNELLY. Sunday, July 24 2011
Expect a new and improved People’s National Movement (PNM) in one year’s time, or less, the party’s chairman, Franklin Khan, assures.
On the mend from its humiliating 29-12 defeat in the May 24, 2010, general election, Khan says the party’s rebuilding effort, currently on stream, comprises a new strategic vision, frequent walkabouts and cottage meetings, a fund-collection mechanism and a more zealous attempt to woo middle-class voters.
Of these, Khan, who was elected PNM chairman on March 20, said devising a proper fund-collection mechanism to cement the party’s financial base, was perhaps his greatest challenge in the post to date.
“The biggest challenge is that the party lacks the physical and financial resources to do a lot of work. Remember when you are in Opposition the money does not flow as when you are in Government,” he told Sunday Newsday during an interview at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain, on Wednesday.
“So we have to run a tight ship. We still have a few good supporters and the burden is falling on a few people financially. But we are rallying and hoping to broaden the financial base of the party.”
Khan, who was appointed Minister of Works and Transport in the PNM administration in 2002, resigned from the position in 2005 after he was accused of bribery by then PNM councillor Dhansam Dhansook. He also resigned as PNM Chairman in 2007.
The State had alleged that Khan accepted $120,500 in bribes from Dhansook in exchange for contracts.
Khan, who was eventually exonerated of the charges in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court on September 20, 2010, is now enjoying a new lease on life.
During last week’s interview, he said the PNM recently adopted a new fee structure for the party, amounting to $98 annually for individual members. This, he said, will put the party on a sound financial footing if properly implemented.
He said: “On the data base there are 70,000 members at $100 a year. If everybody pays their fees that is $7 million. Assuming half pays, that is $3.5 million. It’s not bad but we have to put a collection system in place.”
Khan said last Friday, the party also launched a grand raffle — offering three BMW vehicles — to be drawn during the Christmas season.
“That should raise substantial funds,” he said.
Khan admitted that the party’s infrastructure was virtually non-existent after the election, a situation which he said required a robust attempt to win the trust of the national population in re-positioning the PNM as a “credible alternative”.
The party’s revival, the chairman said, is being tackled on two fronts — through its Strategic Review Team (SRT), established nine months ago, and its Constitutional Review Team (CRT), headed by former Attorney General Bridgid Annisette-George.
The Strategic Review Team, which seeks to re-tool the PNM’s existing 20/20 Vision document, is expected to report to the executive within a month’s time.
“Our strategic team is really preparing a road map for Trinidad into the 21st century. It is well- advanced and forms the basis from which the PNM will launch its new strategic vision,” he said.
Khan said while the Vision 20/20 document was a good one, “there were certain aspects of it that were mishandled”.
He added: “So what we are saying now is that we are preparing a new strategic vision for the country that the party wants to present to the national population, and that will be the road map by which this new PNM will chart the future of the country.” Working in tandem with the SRT, Khan said the CRT, which is expected to complete one phase of its deliberations in two months, will modernise the operations of the 55-year-old political institution.
He acknowledged that the strength of the PNM has always been its past, including its status as a “grassroots” party. The former works minister insisted, however, that the past will not take the party into the future.
“We have been an inward-thinking party and a lot of the dogmas of the PNM will have to be revisited. The same old, same old will not cut it anymore. It has been shown clear,” he said.
“The PNM has boasted that it has a strong constitution, and it is a party that has stood the test of time, but we are saying that it is opportune now to make major changes in the constitution and we have to start to think outside of the box.”
A large part of the PNM’s new strategy involves an attempt to make the party more attractive to the middle class, Khan said.
“While we are proud of being a “grassroots” party, we must remember the working middle-class is now the majority in this country, largely because of the PNM. We have transformed the “grassroots” into an entire middle class. The entire public service is a working middle class,” he said.
The strategy also includes more voter contact through walkabouts and cottage meetings, particularly in the 29 constituencies which the PNM lost in the general election.
“We have been a little laxed in that, although we have had public meetings over the past few months,” Khan told Sunday Newsday.
“But we really need to get the one on one contact with the population — with MPs, party officers and political leader — hitting the road and touching skin so that people know that you are there.
“People want to feel and touch their leaders now. It is a psychology. The new generation of leaders have to be visible, accessible and accountable. If you do not have those three traits forget it.”
The former Ortoire/Mayaro MP said the PNM’s records showed, sadly, that while a constituency may have 20 party groups on paper, many were not functioning.
“But where the party groups are not functional, we will revive them. The intention is to have a party group in every electoral district, in every polling division. And then build the party from the ground up. It is re-engaging with the people,” he said.
This process, Khan admitted, will be a Herculean task, but he assured the PNM will be up to the challenge.
“To rebuild that trust you have to have new policies, new programmes and, most important, new people. We do not want to talk election yet, but the PNM will be coming with fresh, new and enterprising faces. That is how it has to be,” he said.
In so doing, he said the “baggage” which had plagued the last administration and ultimately cost the party the last election “will have to drop off”.
“The baggage of the Calder Hart era. The baggage of the property tax and all the unpopular projects and the supposed misdeeds of the past administration, those baggage will be shed for the train to move forward,” he said. Khan again threw his support behind current political leader, Dr Keith Rowley, as the man to lead the PNM.
“I am really confident under Dr Rowley’s leadership. He is focussed and we have an executive that is focussed.”
He, however, downplayed claims that the party has been unable to sever ties with its former leader, Patrick Manning, in moving forward. Told that it appeared as though many among the party’s membership have been unwilling to embrace Rowley as leader, Khan argued: “With a change in leadership, people will always have their allegiances and they probably take a back seat. You have to give a new leader latitude to lead.”
He added: “A classic example was when Mr Manning lost the election. The general secretary, Martin Joseph, and the chairman, Conrad Enill, resigned because they felt they should give the leader some latitude. And now Martin Joseph is heavily involved with the co-ordinators in the respective constituencies.”
Khan also dismissed reports that Rowley was unpopular and made no apologies for the new faces that have surfaced within the party’s various arms.
“I wouldn’t read too much into that. The new leader has to pick a new team that is somewhat fresh,” he said.
“You cannot discard the old soldiers but you have to have the right balance because the very people who will tell you they not seeing this one and that one, are the same ones asking for newness.”
Khan said the PNM will soon represent a powerful blend of intellectuals, professionals, community activists and others “on the ground”. Khan also responded to the People’s Partnership Government’s intervention in Tobago, reasoning that they were probably encouraged by their success in both the general and local government elections.
“They have won the general election handsomely and the local government election even more handsomely. We (PNM) only control three regional corporations. So the last bastion of PNM governance is really the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and it is obvious they will want to obliterate the PNM,” he said.
Predicting that the Government’s involvement on the island will be a futile one, Khan said Tobagonians will always vote for political parties they perceive represent their interests. He recalled that at one time, the National Alliance For Reconstruction occupied all 12 seats in the THA while the PNM had none.
“So the consciousness of the Tobagonian in th
e context of his island state is fundamental to the Tobago psyche,” he said.
Giving an example, Khan noted that the Tobago Council was an autonomous unit of the PNM.
“There is a detachment from the Trinidad arm only because we have to brand the Tobago Council as Tobagonian. While there is a link to Balisier House, we are seeking Tobago’s interest,” he said.
Khan also said the disrespect being shown to the Orville London-led THA by the Partnership will be a critical feature in the next election.
“In the euphoria of trying to invade the Tobago space, they are already disrespecting the Tobago House of Assembly. How could you bypass Orville London?” he asked.
“He is a defacto Prime Minister of Tobago and Cabinet ministers are totally disregarding the gentlemen and saying that central government has overarching responsibility for governance. But Tobagonians will deal with that disrespect in due course.”
In the meantime, Khan said he was focussed on the task at hand - building the party’s battered infrastructure. He said he also firmly believes that many of the PNM die-hard supporters who voted for the PP in the last general election were, once again, returning to the party’s fold.
“I was hazarded a theory that a significant number of those have already returned, because they have seen their misjudgement,” he said.
This he attributed to the poor performance of the Government 14 months after assuming office.
“They are an inept bunch, with cabals, cliques and caucuses. If there has ever been a dysfunctional government running this country, the People’s Partnership is it,” he said.
Khan argued that the Partnership has offered no strategic plan for governance and has achieved no major accomplishment apart from “patching a few roads here and building a bridge there”.
“And the one man who is performing (Works Minister Jack Warner) you (Prime Minister) cut his portfolio in half,” he joked.
Insisting the Partnership was “governing by vaps”, Khan said: “They have absolutely no policy document and are operating in crisis mode. They have no road map for where they want to take this country.”
http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/print,0,144414.html
Tue Oct 17, 2023 11:16 am by 
Subject: PNM POLICIES Vision 20/30 
