PNM horses 'gathering at the gate'

The Tobago Council of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) is gear­ing up for its internal elections. Fol­low­ing a special council meeting called by the party on Wednesday, Chairman of the PNM Tobago Council, Stanford Callender announced Nomination Day as December 9.

Last Sunday, the Tobago Council’s political leader, Kelvin Charles whilst speaking at the PNM’s 49th annual convention, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain announced that the internal elections will be held on January 19, 2020.

Addressing reporters during a media conference on Thursday at the party’s headquarters in Scarborough, Callender said the party is “in election mode in Tobago, albeit internal to the party”.

“We are in election mode and we would know on the 9th of December, who are some of the individuals that would be vying for some of the various positions in the council. All 17 positions of the council are up for elections, most significant; the political leader, chairman, vice chairman, Secretary General, Assistant Secretary and all the other officers of the party,” the Chairman said.

He recalled that in the party’s first internal elections in 2016, only the positions of political leader and chairman were elected by one man, one vote system, adding that all the positions of the council would be elected by this system this time around.

“The difference however is that there are four positions on the executive, the positions of political leader, chairman, vice Chairman and secretary general will be for a four-year period and all other positions would be for two years.

“The horses are gathering at the starting gate and very soon, all of Tobago would be informed as to who are the possible candidates,” Callender said.

Questioned as to if he would be once again throwing his hat into the ring for the party’s chairmanship, Calendar said: “As I indicated earlier, nomination day is on the 9th and in politics... my vice chairman will tell you, my Public Relations Officer would tell you... we work closely with the process and the system, so as I indicated earlier on December 9, you will know who are the individuals that are contesting what positions in the organisation.”

Social media was abuzz on Thursday with speculation that Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles is likely to be challenged by at least four people for the position of political leader.

There also was a separate image on Facebook, which gave the impression Tracy Davidson-Celestine had already confirmed her candidacy in the leadership race.

The image, headlined Tracy 2020, has as its slogan Our Party, Our Island, Our Journey.

The words, Re-energising Our Party, Developing Our Island, are also seen on the image.

At the launch of the Progressive Democratic Patriots election campaign at the Magdalena Grand Beach & Golf Resort, three weeks ago, the party's political leader Watson Duke claimed THA presiding officer Dr Denise Tsoiafatt Angus is being favoured by the Prime Minister and the PNM's hierarchy to lead the Tobago Council.

Questioned on Duke's claim at that time, Tsoiafatt Angus said she did not want to be drawn into the political fray while holding her position as presiding officer.

Tsoiafatt Angus and Davidson-Celestine were former secretaries for community development and tourism, respectively, in the former Orville London-led THA administration.

They were among several people who had unsuccessfully contested the Tobago Council leadership in the 2016 internal election.

Charles resigned his position as THA presiding officer to contest that election and won in a run-off.

Davidson-Celestine, who took up the post of TT Ambassador to Costa Rica in May 2017, was said to have been in Tobago several months ago, making the rounds while Tsoiafatt Angus has been a fixture at many social events on the island for quite some time.