PNM selects 2 UNC defectors for local government elections

THE PNM on Sunday approved Marcus Girdharie and Sheldon “Fish” Garcia, two outgoing councillors who recently left the UNC, to be PNM candidates in the August 14 local government elections.
The party presented 141 prospective candidates at a convention at NAPA, Port of Spain.

The PNM chose Girdharie to vie for the Marabella South/Vistabella seat on the San Fernando City Corporation, to which he had previously been elected under a UNC banner. Likewise, Garcia will be PNM contender for the seat he formerly represented for the UNC, Arima Central, on the Arima Borough Council.

The PNM chose Alicia Ali for the Warrenville/Kelly Village seat previously held by Samuel Sankar, who had previously been elected under a UNC banner but who had recently resigned.

Girdharie and Barataria nominee Kimberley Small were chosen to take the oath on behalf of all candidates.

Earlier, Housing Minister Camille Robinson-Regis, who is PNM lady vice chairman, urged voters not to be apathetic on election day, but rather to support “the only true political party in TT.”

She told the prospective candidates they were patriots and standard-bearers for a party that had great traditions, principles and values.

Robinson-Regis hit rival parties as lacking vision but rather being locked into times of trouble; seasons of discontent; and bacchanal, scandal and viciousness.

Saying there comes a time for people to make a decision to affect their lives, she said the PNM was not any “pick-up side,” allegedly unlike its opponents.

Robinson-Regis named a public figure who was now on bail, another previously fired from a state company, and another who she alleged was bilingual but “speaks Spanish better than English.”

She urged PNM prospective candidates to win as many seats as possible for the PNM, which she said was no ordinary party.

Energy Minister Stuart Young, who is PNM chairman, recalled the Government’s achievements, including accessing vaccines for the population during the pandemic, and urged people not to take that for granted. He described the PNM as “the only party fielding 141 candidates.” Wherever one was voting in Trinidad, a PNM candidate’s name would be on the ballot paper, Young said.

He said the PNM’s screening process was not about just having a lime at which some candidates would be chosen. Young said the candidates represented every creed and race, plus some who had not been in the PNM but had subsequently jumped on board.

Field officer Terrence Beepath said out of 500 nominees, the party had selected 141 prospective candidates. He said they comprised a balanced slate and were individuals of exceptional quality and calibre.

Minister of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings, who is general secretary, said attendance at the PNM convention was over 5,000.

The event included performances by Brendon “Isasha” Young, Rodney “Benjai” Le Blanc and Kernal Roberts, singing a 1980s pro-PNM song by his father, the late Aldwyn “Lord Kitchener” Roberts.