Mayaro MP Rushton Paray is not afraid of being made an outcast from the UNC for demanding that the party's internal election be called when it is constitutionally due in June.
"Today we are all making this public demand because we have a grave concern that there is an attempt from the executive to devalue the UNC's internal election by suggesting it is not necessary or not even needed," the Opposition MP said on Friday.
"Despite the fact that no general election has been called, our leadership is pushing a bogus narrative that says we cannot have our internal elections because there is a general election 'soon.' To me, that is not acceptable."
[caption id="attachment_1072224" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Member of Parliament for Mayaro Rushton Paray, third from left, takes a photo with supporters during a press conference at the Couva Chamber of Commerce Hall. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
Paray believes the talk of a general election was simply a ruse intended to suppress the voice of the membership.
The Opposition MP spoke at a press conference at the Couva Chamber of Commerce Hall, where he called on his colleagues to stand up for what is right and decent.
None of his parliamentary colleagues were at the hall, which is next door to the constituency office of his colleague Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh.
[caption id="attachment_1072205" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Member of Parliament for Mayaro Rushton Paray, centre, speaks with Senior Counsel Larry Lala, left, and attorney Kiel Taklalsingh during a press conference at the Couva Chamber of Commerce Hall. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
He said his colleagues' absences might be due to Private Members' Day in Parliament.
But Paray also said he was cautioned by a nameless colleague within the UNC that holding the conference would make him an outcast. He was unfazed, he said, because he had to speak out about upholding the integrity of the nation's institutions, including the UNC.
"Before I came here today, I got a very interesting call from one of my colleagues. He said, 'Paray, you have a long and bright future in politics. You are a good man, you are decent. But what you are doing is committing political suicide,'" Paray said.
"My response to him was that might very well be the case, and perhaps after today, I may very well be an outcast as well.
"(But) the option presented to me was that I must stay silent. Silence is a cancer that grows."
[caption id="attachment_1072214" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Member of Parliament for Mayaro Rushton Paray speaks with a supporter during a press conference at the Couva Chamber of Commerce Hall. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
A group of supporters of Paray, including former Couva North MP Ramona Ramdial, activist Victor Roberts and councillor Henry Awong, clapped in approval.
Paray added, "I told him if my one voice is me committing political suicide, then the silence of every one of you is committing political genocide, because we are putting at risk the future o
