More accurately, it could be Robinson's consistency in showing how much he is committed to the promotion and maintenance of justice that first, he went to New York last month for the ceremonial inauguration of the International Criminal Court, with which he was involved in the 1970s.

Then came his departure last week for Wisconsin, USA, to participate in a conference organised by `Justice Without Borders’.

In between those two overseas visits, the President, who is on temporary extension, would have followed the harsh criticism from his ex-political colleague, Panday, that he (Robinson) was pursuing a political agenda with "racial overtones" by his appointment of Patrick Manning as Prime Minister.

However justified he may feel in being ignored, as then incumbent Prime Minister, Panday's racism allegation against Robinson was mean and ridiculous. His foray against Robinson when he addressed the recent luncheon meeting of the Greater Tunapuna Chamber of Commerce on the current political climate in the country, could only have undermined the moral high ground he had taken in his post-election call for a national government and his subsequent efforts, during the UNC-PNM dialogue, for power-sharing.
<http://www.guyanachronicle.com/manning.jpg>
Patrick Manning Prime Minister.
It was an indulgence in petty politicking when there is already enough of that at too many levels of leadership, with neither the offices of the President, Prime Minister nor Opposition Leader exempted, since the verdict of the voters on December 10, 2001.

That a retired judge, known to have been quite sharp in his public criticisms of Panday, did not consider it inappropriate when invited by Manning to head the current Commission of Enquiry into voter-padding and other allegations against the Electoral and Boundaries Commission, is yet another surprising development in the body politic.

The EBC Probe
Let no one, however, prejudge the outcome of the findings of the Lennox Deyalsingh-led Commission of Enquiry.

The fact that he does not enjoy the confidence of the UNC - which constitutes the other 50 per cent of representation in Parliament - does not mean that the learned retired judge and his fellow commissioners are simply waiting to bring comfort to Manning's PNM in that party's claims of malpractices at the 2000 and 2001 elections.

Sessions of the Commission have at times been filled with humourous developments from witnesses, when there were not tense moments involving verbal clashes between legal teams of the EBC and the PNM, as well as between chairman Deyalsingh and lead attorneys for the PNM.

What matters now that the Commission has had to be granted an extension of its mandate, for at least another month, is when will it really be ready to submit a report on its findings.

This is important to know so that the EBC - long respected, nationally and regionally for its competence and integrity, until the PNM's chose to pour scorn on that reputation in 2000 - can get on with the task, for which it claims it will be ready by July, to conduct a new general election that seems increasingly inevitable by October.

Another issue of concern, as reflected in media reports and comments, apart from Panday's tantrums over Robinson, and the Deyalsingh-led Commission of Enquiry, is the unfortunate public disclosure that Prime Minister Manning had offered government's assistance to former President Sir Ellis Clarke for the funeral of his wife, Lady Eyrmyntrude.

Call it a faux pas or another behaviour in political opportunism in the current unsettling political climate. But it must have been painfully embarrassing for a towering figure like Sir Ellis to have to deal with such an offer.

As expected, he rejected the offer. He would certainly not have considered the State offering assistance for the funeral of his dear wife who had so studiously kept a low public profile all the years of her husband's outstanding public career.

A strange offer
I also doubt that the news of the government's offer of help for the funeral could have originated from the Clarkes' household. So who leaked that news to the media?

I imagine that as the months draw nearer for the announcement of a new general election, we will be confronted with more strange, inappropriate, opportunistic behaviour by politicians and parties. Panday's uncalled for racism outburst against Robinson falls in that category.

Robinson's error of judgement by his appointment of Manning as Prime Minister, one which the President will not wish to publicly admit before demitting office, if ever - is known beyond legal and political circles in Trinidad and Tobago.

I have said before that there are heads of government and Attorneys General of the Caribbean Community who are among those who feel Robinson should have re-appointed Panday as Prime Minister after the 18-8 deadlock, providing that he was in possession of written assurance of very early new election, possibly in six to seven months following the oath-taking ceremony, to continue as Prime Minister.

Manning, for reasons best known to him, felt confident enough about being Prime Minister to have rejected, quite early, Panday's offer of a power-sharing government, even with a rotating Prime Minister.

So was there a political conspiracy against Panday? I do not know. Who knows? What I find surprising is that the weapon of race should have been summoned by Panday who has been doing so much to make the UNC more of a national party and carrying the politics of inclusion right into the heart of his party's central committee that was to result in a nasty, decisive retaliation from a 'deputy' - Ramesh Maharaj - too much in a hurry for power.

The country and the region know that both the PNM and UNC, like the PPP and PNC in Guyana, draw the bulk of their support from their traditional ethnic bases.

It is also true that the UNC has made significant strides, ever since things fell apart in its "one love" involvement with what used to be Robinson's National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), in its consistent attempts to broaden its base to attract non-Indian support.

Panday's resort to the race factor in analysing why Robinson opted for Manning instead of him, is all the more ridiculous when it is recalled that it was Panday who had made it possible for the then NAR leader to become President when Manning was opposed to such a development.

The UNC leader's rationale, therefore, for being bypassed by Robinson in preference for Manning as Prime Minister is based on self-serving, faulty analysis and it is simply politically clumsy to contend, as he did, that he was separating the "office from the individual".

In the meantime, the EBC continues to defend its integrity before the Deyalsingh-led Commission of Enquiry, ahead of new election, while Mr. Robinson is making the best of his temporary extension as President - at home and abroad