TUF Executive apologises to Minister Nadir

Aug 25, 2011 News

…after Presidential Candidate’s blunder

Party members of The United Force (TUF) yesterday sought to correct a serious political gaffe made by their new leader and Presidential Candidate, Mrs. Valerie Garrido-Lowe.
On August 19, Lowe sent a letter to former party leader and Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir asking him to relinquish the party’s single seat in Parliament. She stated in her letter that the Executive of the party had come to the conclusion that Nadir was not utilising the seat to its full potential.
It was pointed out by persons versed in constitutional law that the right of recall lay not with the party leader, necessarily, but with the

Mrs. Valerie Garrido-Lowe

Representative of the List, a position that Nadir retains at present.
Minister Nadir told Kaieteur News on Tuesday that he would willingly step down if a majority of the candidates on the TUF list who contested the 2006 elections called for him to do so. He went on to note, however, that to his knowledge, there has been no Executive Meeting to this end.
In a letter sent yesterday, Chairman of the Party, Ismail Muhammad apologized to Nadir for any embarrassment that Lowe’s decision may have caused. Nadir’s position that no such Executive Meeting had been called was also proven true by Muhammad in the letter. He told Nadir, “It is with grave concern that I have learnt that our leader has sent you a letter calling on you to resign from your seat in Parliament and even with greater concern that that letter says that this decision was taken by the Executive of the Party.”
Muhammad further stated that, “As Chairman of the party I can assure you that no meeting was ever called to discuss your resignation from Parliament. The last meeting of the Executive was on July 8, 2011. A meeting was to be convened on August 20 and I had to nullify that meeting because it was never convened by me and I never prepared the agenda – These are the responsibilities of the Chairman and no other person.”
Muhammad goes on to say that he told Garrido- Lowe that she was usurping his authority as Chairman of the party and that the planned meeting was “totally unconstitutional and null and void.”
The Chairman then contacted the party executives from throughout the country who all asked to have their signatures appended to the apology. He stated that the Executive members were never consulted and they “are not in support of Ms. Valerie Garrido-Lowe in this matter of your resignation from Parliament.”
In a direct contradiction to Garrido-Lowe’s claims in her letter where she tells Nadir that he is not utilising the party’s seat in Parliament to its full potential, Muhammad said to Nadir in the letter, “I assure you that the Executive and Members recognize you as the legal representative for The United Force in Parliament and we commend you for the work you have done in Parliament during the last four terms as our Parliamentary Representative.”