The United Force party, on Friday, July 1, announced that its former longtime leader Manzoor Nadir will not be campaigning with the party in the lead-up to the 2011 regional and general elections. At a press conference at Unity House, the TUF presidential candidate Valerie Garrido-Lowe said the party believes that Nadir’s involvement would create a conflict of interest.
Nadir is currently labour minister and parliamentarian in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration.
“We are stating here that he (Nadir) will not be campaigning with us, because that will surely be a conflict of interest,” Garrido- Lowe declared, while asserting that Nadir’s involvement on the campaign trail in the 2006 elections was responsible for the United Force’s ‘dwindled’ support base.
“As far as I am concerned, that is why our membership dwindled, because it was a conflict of interest. That is why we are taking the stand now; we are not going to risk that.” Nadir, who served as tourism minister after the 2002 elections, came in for strong criticism from a member of the party’s New York Group. George Correia accused his colleague of looking out for his personal interests.
“Manzoor used the United Force to get what he wanted, and when he got there, he closed the doors, darkened the road, and (put) out the light on this nation,” Correia stated. He believes that Nadir’s support of the PPP/Civic administration has become “offensive” to the members of the TUF, citing the introduction of the value added tax (VAT) as a policy that flies in the face of what the party stands for.
“We, as members of TUF, find that very offensive; that is why this change could not have come better and faster,” Correia expressed. The overseas based Guyanese is back home to support Garrido-Lowe and prime ministerial candidate Ismail Muhammad.
Nadir has, in recent times, been promoting the PPP/C’s policies and programmes.
Just Friday, the labour minister said: “When I first came to the ministry… I knew I was bringing the concept of the PPP/C behaviour change; and as we are just about in the twilight in this term, I can say that we are ending with the same philosophy I have of the PPP/C behaviour change.” In response to a query on Nadir’s current role in the party, Muhammad said: “Manzoor Nadir is the ex-leader of The United Force… we have not kicked him out, nor has he left us.
“He is an ordinary member of the party.” The prime ministerial candidate had earlier praised the work of the labour minister. This could be seen as contradictory, given Friday’s protest. But Garrido-Lowe said: “There is no inconsistency. When you do a good job, it is right that you are complimented; and Manzoor is doing a good job within the ministry…” When contacted, Nadir refused to comment on the allegations made by Correia, but insisted that the TUF’s new leadership will have to take the party where they see fit.
At an earlier press conference, the TUF announced that it would be focusing on the development of Amerindians, since, for far too long, this group had been neglected by successive governments.
TUF executive members were quizzed about their current dissatisfaction with the government programme for Amerindians.
They were quick to point out that Nadir was not the Amerindian affairs minister, and that he did make representation on behalf of the Amerindians at the level of Cabinet.
Nadir told reporters, “I know that we have seen significant changes, and I’ve been part of driving those positive changes among all communities, including the Amerindian communities.” Just recently, he was placed in charge of the massive One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project.
