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The ship is sinking and the WPA is shrinking

Jul 22, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The withdrawal of the resignation of Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine signals two things. These two things have an implication for the constitution of the government.
First, it suggests that Dr. Roopnaraine, while ill, is ‘fit’ and proper enough to continue on as a Minister of the government. If he is fit enough to continue as a Minister, then he cannot be said to have been removed because of ill-health. So is he going to be restored as the Minister of Education since he is fit enough?
There is no indication that he will be restored, which brings us to the second implication. If he is not going to be restored as the Minister of Education, it means that he was never replaced for medical reasons.
The WPA’s gambit has backfired, and it has backfired because of an unusual development. The WPA had the President cornered, or so it thought. It had an understanding with Dr. Roopnaraine that he would resign because of his health.
The WPA felt that the President therefore would be forced into a position whereby he would have to appoint a representative of the party as a Minister, in keeping with the President’s own statement that each party of the coalition would be represented in the government.
The gambit – the agreement with Dr. Roopnaraine over his resignation – backfired, because the resignation was withdrawn. In other words, Dr. Roopnaraine played his own gambit on the WPA, and APNU ends up being the winner.
It ends up being the winner because the President does not have to be forced to negotiate with the WPA over a new person who will be the face of the party in the government.
APNU ends up the winner because it has a reliable partner in Dr. Roopnaraine, who it can always claim represents the WPA, but who is not their representative. In other words, Dr. Roopnaraine has placed the WPA in a most embarrassing and humiliating position.
The withdrawal of the resignation effectively vitiates the pact which the WPA believed it had with Dr. Roopnaraine. The WPA has been left standing all alone. It thought it had an agreement on resignation, only to learn that the resignation was withdrawn.
The WPA has been taking an independent stand on matters of national interest. This is a tactical manoeuvre on the part of the WPA. It is smart enough to know that its sidelining from the government is no accident. It is perceptive enough to appreciate that APNU is comfortable with Dr. Roopnaraine.
The WPA also knows that APNU is a sinking ship and that people are jumping off. The WPA is not yet prepared to jump off. It wants to prevent the coalition government from sinking under its own weight. It wants to help keep the ship afloat, but it can only do so if it is more involved in the decision-making of the government.
At the same time, the WPA’s newfound independence is an exit strategy just in case the ship sinks. The WPA in that situation can claim that if the government had taken the criticisms made by the party seriously, the ship would not have sunk. This is the exit strategy of the WPA – show it was not in agreement with all the things which caused the ship to sink.
The WPA is therefore killing two birds with one stone. It is trying to save the ship from sinking by offering its intellectual services; at the same time it wants to ensure that should the ship sink, it does not go down with it.
The WPA thought it had found the perfect ploy to eat its cake and have it too. It was hoping to have one of its members replace Dr. Roopnaraine within the government. Through this, it was hoping to have a more direct role in government.
Dr. Roopnaraine played them like a banjo. He had an agreement with the WPA that he would resign. He then promptly had a meeting with the President and reversed himself, leaving the WPA holding wind.

 

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