Tony DeyalTHE WORDS 'dejected' and 'ejected' mean the same thing when you have to vacate the premises you presently occupy. The former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Basdeo Panday, was twice put out when the President made Mr. Patrick Manning the present Prime Minister of the country. He was 'put out' in the sense of being annoyed, upset and angry. He was also 'put out' in the sense of having to vacate the Prime Minister's residence.
It is said that losing your job is one of the most traumatic of all human experiences, running second only to the loss of, or separation from, a loved one. Having to move or to suffer physical displacement or dislocation is a close third on the scale of stressful situations. It is why one can understand why Mr. Panday has not yet moved, blaming 'packing' and its horrors as a major problem. Ironically, Mr. Manning was in the same position a few years ago. And so was Mr. Robinson. Most likely, Mr. Manning would again be in that same situation in future.
I was there when it happened to George Chambers. Until he became Prime Minister, I had not known him well. I worked in the Prime Minister's Office as the Television Producer from 1974. Mr. Chambers was always one of those people I saw at the office on Cabinet days, but he was never too much into the publicity overkill that characterised his colleagues. I left the job and went to the national sugar company, Caroni (1975) Ltd., when an opportunity arose. I was not sure where I stood with Mr. Chambers, and I was not comfortable with the Minister in the Ministry of the Prime Minister responsible for Information, Mr. Patrick Manning.
I thought it better to resign than to remain. I strongly believed that I was being discriminated against on the basis of race.
When Mr. Chambers won the elections of 1981, one of his first official visits was to Caroni. I met him at the gates of the sugar factory as a member of the official entourage. Ignoring everyone else, he looked me straight in the face and said, 'You. They should have (expletive deleted) killed you.' But there was a twinkle of humour in his eyes, a steely glint of sardonic amusement that I came to know better. He was referring to attacks on me in Parliament and the press as a 'PNM stooge planted in Caroni' by Mr. Basdeo Panday, Mr. Kelvin Ramnath and Mr. Nizam Mohammed of the Opposition United Labour Front. There were about 10 pages of Hansard about me and my hairstyle (an 'afro'). I had gone to Mr. Panday telling him that I was at Caroni and that I wanted to get his ideas about the communications priorities. Mr. Panday assured me that he was glad to see me, and that he would help. Within two hours, I was hauled over in Hansard.
Later, I explained jokingly to Mr. Chambers that I had no choice but to leave both the government and the party. I told him about my problem with Mr. Manning and the party. Regarding the party, I pointed out that I had been placed in a party group in which the chairman turned out to be an embezzler. 'And what was worse,' I added, 'is that they later found the man in the Tunapuna Savannah with a male party group member.' In his characteristic terseness, Mr. Chambers said, 'To be a thief is bad enough, but to be a thief and buller you might as well dead.'
Later that same week, at a dinner in his honour at a Couva restaurant, Mr. Chambers called Mr. Panday aside and in my presence said, 'Bas, leave the boy (referring to me) alone, man. Give him a chance.' It was the first time that anyone in the PNM had stood up for me. It is a gesture that I will appreciate until the day I die. But that was George Chambers. He was a very special human being. As Mr. Patrick Manning should realise, having the initials 'PM' is not in itself adequate justification for occupying the position of PM.
Just before the 1986 Elections, when Mr. Manning called me for help, I mentioned it to Mr. Chambers who laughingly said, 'Help the man. Regardless of what he do you, help him.' I did. But Mr. Chambers tempted the gods the same way that Basdeo Panday did later. Mr. Chambers believed that the people would forgive you anything at Christmas time.
PNM STRONGHOLDS
He was wrong. On election night, Mr. Chambers kept hoping for the self-interest of the people along the East-West Corridor, the traditional PNM strongholds, to assert itself. That never happened. When Mr. Panday gave the official residence as his home address in the last election, the gods must have laughed themselves crazy.
When Mr. Chambers lost, we were told that Mr. Robinson was demanding to occupy the residence almost immediately. Mr. Chambers' brother, John, and I, using a van borrowed from a friend, helped to move Mr. Chambers out of the residence to his home and virtual exile. None of those who profited from the Chambers years, not even Mr. Manning (for whom I had interceded with Mr. Chambers to hand over the party leadership), ever showed up. In packing to leave, we had left Mr. Chambers' room for last. When Corporal Banfield, the butler, came to pick up the two remaining suitcases, a haggard George Chambers looked up from the book he was reading and asked, 'Banfield, where are you going with those?' Banfield replied, 'We have to move, Sir.' And Mr. Chambers abstractly said, 'Oh' and buried himself once more into his book and brooding.
Tony Deyal was last seen saying that his best advice to Messrs. Manning, Panday and Robinson is from one-time US President, Woodrow Wilson. He said, "Never murder a man who is committing suicide."
