National Team Unity is a
political party in
Trinidad and Tobago led by
Human Rights lawyer and former
Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.
Originally founded as
Team Unity, to contest party elections in the
United National Congress in
2001, the slate of candidates was led by Maharaj. Team Unity won 21 of 24 contested executive posts including the Deputy Leadership (won by Maharaj).
Later that year a rift with UNC leader Basdeo Panday led Maharaj, together with
Oropouche Member of Parliament Trevor Sudama and
Naparima MP
Ralph Maraj, to leave the party. This caused the UNC to lose its parliamentary majority, forcing national elections.
Renaming itself National Team Unity, the party contested the
2001 general elections,won 2.5% of the vote but no seats. It did not contest the
2002 general elections, and remains more of a pressure group than a true national political party. In
2004 Ralph Maraj returned to the PNM (which he had left in 1995) as a speechwriter for
Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
As of 2006 the NTU appears to be a moribund organization. Its leader Maharaj has rejoined the United National Congress.