If the people want me, I’ll serve

Port of Spain South MP Marlene McDonald said if her constituents still want her, she will put her name forward to the PNM to contest that seat in the 2020 general election. She has been the area’s MP since 2007.

Mc Donald told this to Newsday on Sunday at her “Christmas extravaganza” at her office on Piccadilly Street in Port of Spain where she and City Corporation chairman Wendell Stephen distributed 350 gift bags to people.

Asked whether or not she would consider continuing as PoS South MP, given her recent legal troubles and also being removed from multiple positions in both the PNM and Cabinet, McDonald said the decision on whether she remains as MP does not lie with her.

“That will be determined by the executive of Port of Spain South, that is not my determination. The constituency will determine that, not me. Once the people ask for me...fine, not a problem.”

Stephen said the event yesterday follows Fathers’ Day and Mothers’ Day shows both held at City Hall; a book bag distribution drive which McDonald holds annually and a Christmas dinner which she also hosts each year. “This is just another cog in that wheel of what she has done for the constituency over the years,” Stephen said.

Mc Donald told Newsday her community events start from the beginning of the year with a calypso show on the Picadilly Greens and ends with the Christmas dinner. The gift bags distributed yesterday included towels, sheets, wash rags and a red T-shirt. Mc Donald said the gifts are usually greatly appreciated by her constituents.

“It may seem simple to those who could afford a little more, but to them, it means a lot,” she said. McDonald added, soon after this gift distribution, 300 Christmas hampers will also be shared among PoS constituents. Mc Donald said the events help to join communities in the PoS area, and creates a sense of unity in an area once considered a crime “hot spot”.

“In terms of the crime, how long have you heard about bacchanal and confusion in these areas? I am happy to say when we host these functions, it is the bonding of our people. It is the coming together of our community. It is ordinary people doing extraordinary things, like Obama said. We come together and we work,” she said.

“There is a connection with me and behind the bridge,” she said. “In 2007 when the call was made for an MP, there was never one who came from East Port of Spain. All the representatives for Port of Spain South came from in front the bridge. I am the first one who came from behind the bridge. Therefore if you talk to people like “Twiggy” they would tell you she is from the hood. She is one of us. She is from the ghetto,” McDonald said.

In March 2016, McDonald was removed from her post as housing minister, after questions were raised over arrangements involving her common-law husband Michael Carew and an HDC house at Fidelis Heights, St Augustine. Questions were also raised about donations of $375,000 and $200,000 from that ministry to the Calabar Foundation while she was still in charge of the ministry. Carew was said to be a Calabar director at the time.

In 2017, Mc Donald was removed as Public Utilities Minister after her close friend and Sealots businessman Cedric Burke was allowed in at the Office of the President for McDonald’s swearing-in days earlier. This year, she was slapped with several criminal charges which are pending before the courts.