Basdeo Panday

Early life

Panday was born in St. Julien Village, Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago. His grandparents were from British India, and came under the Indian indenture system. 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). He returned to Trinidad in 1965.

Early years

Panday's political career began in 1966, when he joined the Workers' and Farmers' Party and made an unsuccessful run for Parliament. In 1972, he was appointed as an opposition senator. The following year 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.

On February 8, 1975, amidst the backdrop of labour struggles, Panday met with fellow union leaders George Weekes and Raffique Shah. Together, they founded the United Labour Front. All three were arrested on March 18 during an attempted march from San Fernando to Port-of-Spain, but were found not guilty on April 22 "on the charge of leading a public march without permission".

Panday won the Couva North seat in the 1976 general election, becoming an MP and official opposition leader. The next year the party split into two factions and Panday was ousted as party leader in favour of Shah. He was reinstated in 1978 after Winston Nanan, who previously supported Shah, defected to Panday and Shah resigned.

Following a poor performance in the 1980 local elections, Panday co-founded the Trinidad and Tobago National Alliance with A. N. R. Robinson of the Democratic Action Congress and Lloyd Best of the Tapia House Group. He retained his seat in the 1981 general election.

In 1984 the National Alliance became the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) and in 1985 merged with the Organisation for National Reconstruction. The won a decisive victory in 1986. Panday was named Minister of External Affairs and International Trade. The party soon fractured along racial lines; Panday accused Robinson and the government of discrimination against Indians and autocratic rule. Robinson reshuffled his cabinet in response, and Panday found himself with reduced ministerial responsibilities. The infighting continued, culminating with Panday, Kelvin Ramnath, and Trevor Sudama being expelled from the party on February 8, 1988.

UNC, Prime Ministership, and electoral crises

Panday and the other expelled ministers founded the Caucus for Love, Unity and Brotherhood (CLUB '88), which he revealed in October would become the United National Congress (UNC) on April 30,1989. Economic decline, austerity, and racial tensions led to the NAR being swept out of power in the 1991 general election and the UNC, lead by Panday, becoming official opposition.

The 1995 general election was a defining moment in Panday's career. The ruling PNM party called an early vote, expecting a victory. However, the election ended with the PNM and UNC holding 17 seats each, and the NAR holding 2. The UNC and NAR entered a coalition, thereby bringing the UNC into power and making Panday the first Indo-Trinidadian Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

Panday once again led the UNC to victory in the 2000 election, being sworn in as Prime Minister for a second time. In 2001, UNC MPs Ramesh Maharaj, Trevor Sudama, and Ralph Maraj alleged government corruption, pressuring Panday to appoint a Commission of Inquiry; Panday responded by firing Maharaj. Sudama and Maraj then resigned, leaving the UNC with a minority. Panday was thus forced to call a new election. The 2001 general election resulted in an unprecedented 18-18 tie between the UNC and PNM, sparking a constitutional crisis over who should form government. Both parties agreed to abide by the decision of the president, A.N.R. Robinson, as to who would lead the government, as well as to form a unity government. However, Panday reneged on the agreement when Robinson appointed PNM leader Patrick Manning, finding his explanation for doing so (Manning's "moral and spiritual values") unsatisfactory. Panday also argued that Robinson did not act in accordance with the constitution by choosing Manning, as he did not hold the majority in parliament. He refused to accept the position of Leader of the Opposition in protest.

Parliament was dissolved and new elections were called in 2002 after it was unable to elect a Speaker. This time the PNM were brought back into power with the UNC playing opposition. Panday's third term as Leader of the Opposition would last until 2006, when he was convicted of failing to declare a bank account in London.

UNC leadership and power struggles

In September 2005, during the UNC internal elections, Panday nominated Winston Dookeran as his successor as party leader. Panday himself retained the position of Chairman. On October 2, 2005, both Panday and Dookeran won their posts unopposed. Since appointing Dookeran to succeed him, the UNC had 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 remained as the leader of the Opposition.

In October 2005, Panday invited Ramesh 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 Tim Gopeesingh, a loyalist and CEO of the UNC and Augustus with former Olympic athlete 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.

On January 3, 2007, Panday was reinstated as leader of the UNC.

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 until 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, Warner and Maharaj.

End of political career

On January 24, 2010 Basdeo Panday lost 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.

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.

Charges under Integrity in Public Life Act

Secret investigations into Panday began after the 2001 election, when the Central Authority and the Anti Corruption Bureau was set up by the PNM. On September 18, 2002, Panday was charged under section 27(1)(b) of the Integrity in Public Life Act No. 8 of 1987 for failing to declare the contents of a bank account in London for the years 1997, 1998 and 1999. During the investigation, he had first stated that the funds in the account were for his children's education and that his name was added to the account to prevent problems should something happen to his wife. He did not consider the funds his own, and thus did not declare them. However, after receiving further information from the bank, he stated that the account had been opened jointly with his wife to deposit money for his open heart surgery. After his wife transferred the account to another branch she maintained and administered it, and his name remained on it out of convenience.

On April 24, 2006, Panday was found guilty on all three counts and sentenced to two years with hard labour and a TT$ 20,000 fine. He was also denied bail, and ordered to pay the sum in the account "for each year he was charged for not making the declaration". He appealed the decision, and on March 20, 2007, the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction against Panday, based on the possibility that he may not have received a fair trial. A new trial under a different magistrate was ordered.

The three Court of Appeal judges agreed that there was, in fact, a real possibility of bias by the Chief Magistrate in his ruling. 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.

On June 26, 2012, Panday was finally acquitted of all charges. The magistrate stated that he had not been given due process. However, in September 2002, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was given leave to challenge the decision. On October 7, 2014, the DPP withdrew the application to review the decision. The presiding Justice stated that Panday would "face hardships and prejudice" if prosecution continued.

Corruption charges

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, Oma 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.

Personal life

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.