Huggins, here are the facts

THE EDITOR: I note with some scepticism and amusement a letter by Ronald Huggins, former PNM senator and former social media officer, entitled “UNC’s 104 not enough,” published on February 7.

Firstly, I would like to thank Huggins for his interest in the United National Congress and to take this opportunity to reiterate our call to all people interested in national development that now is the time to come forward because we need all hands on deck to recover from these years of PNM mismanagement and incompetence.

However, it would be remiss of me not to correct some major inaccuracies in Huggins’ letter. The 104 nomination forms collected, that so greatly aggrieved Huggins, were in the first eight hours of nominations being open.

The interest that the UNC has generated with our call for new faces and new ideas to invigorate and reignite a beleaguered population was evidenced by numbers of people coming forward on the first day to pick up nomination papers, but also by how many people like Huggins have a marked interest in our process.

Since the resounding success of our National Assembly, the UNC has also formed committees where members of the public can engage in idea sharing, forming think tanks that would be the nexus for national development under a progressive and vibrant UNC. We have had numerous people from all across the country reaching out to us, ready to get involved and do their part to rescue our country.

Huggins lamented the numbers of people picking up nomination papers for the general election; I wish to allay his fears yet again. We are currently only accepting nominations for seats we do not currently hold. There has been quite a number of people coming forward to represent the UNC in the Diego Martin seats, Port of Spain North, Arouca/ Maloney and Arima because of the lack of representation they have received under their current MPs.

On his question as to whether or not the UNC can fight an election alone, I urge Huggins to ask his political leader to call the election and I am certain his question would be suitably answered.

ANITA HAYNES

PRO, UNC