It was Karl Marx who said that history repeats itself, first as a tragedy, and then as farce.
And so it is with the UDP...In June 2021, history was made when 290 UDP delegates signed a petition to recall former party leader, Patrick Faber.
And, it's happening all over again...Today, the members of the party who oppose the current leader have submitted their own recall petition - which they say has 201 signatures - 26 more than the one-third they needed.
This afternoon at 2pm, the petition was handed to the secretary general of the party by vice chairman, Alberto August, and exiled UDP member, Delroy Cuthkelvin.
After an almost two hour meeting, they emerged from the office, where August explained that this is a process they are allowed according to their constitution, and that the next step is vetting the signatures.
However, that is as much as he would say, because according to him, the UDP has been through too much in the limelight, and he wants to refrain from "badmouthing" anyone - including Shyne Barrow, whom he is trying to have recalled.
Alberto August, Vice Chairman, UDP
"For those of you who might be aware of that aspect of the constitution all that is required is for us to present one third of the amount of signatures, one third of the amount of delegates in our party and that is what we did today and that is the first process. We are hoping that the next step is for the verification of those signatures. We are hoping that that goes quickly and smoothly just like the last time when it was done and the process continue. Like we are saying that we are not here to bad mouth anybody in our party, its just that we need to move on and we understand that while we have collected 201 signatures, we're hoping that that is what will proceed in terms of the recall."
"The UDP has been through a lot over the past 2 years and are not here to continue bashing the UDP. We are here to unite our party. So the next step from here is that we are going to go to the delegates and we are going to meet them in private and campaign with them. When this recall is triggered, we are hoping that nothing gets nasty, man. The UDP has gone through enough and so we'll be meeting privately with the delegates and seeking to campaign with them. That's about it."
Reporter
"What has precipitated this particular position though? What has brought us to this point?"
Alberto August, Vice Chairman, UDP
"Well, we don't want to go down that road. Like I said the UDP has been too much. We have triggered the constitutional requirement of the party in terms of the recall of the party and that what we're doing and we are leaving it at that. We are not here for that. That is an internal party matter. We hope that we can discuss that internally among the party. The party's business is out there for much too long, it's time for that to end."
Reporter
"Don't you think that this is going to push the party further than where it currently is?"
Alberto August, Vice Chairman, UDP
"Like I said, I am not here to be dragged into the intricacies of the UDP. We are not here for that. We came here today to deliver the signatures that we collected and that is where we're going to leave it. The UDP moves on."
Reporter
"Was it easy to collect those signatures, on what grounds did you go to the delegates to get those signatures?"
Alberto August, Vice Chairman, UDP
"It did not take long. But like I said, we don't want to discuss the UDP internal business."
Reporter
"Any of the signatures are from Mesopotamia?"
Alberto August, Vice Chairman, UDP
"Yes, there are some signatures from Mesopotamia, but let the headquarters divulge that. We are not here for that. The focus right now is to unite our party. That is the primary and only focus, to unite our party and make it viable to contest the next general election of this country."
Notably, the chairman, Michael Peyrefitte, whom August had written to asking to be at the headquarters to receive the petition, was absent. He sent his driver to pick up the petition.
