PNM Tobago members vote today to elect new leader

Stephon Nicholas

To­ba­go Cor­re­spon­dent

Ap­prox­i­mate­ly 10,000 PNM mem­bers will vote to­day to choose a new To­ba­go Coun­cil leader in the par­ty’s in­ter­nal elec­tions.

Vot­ing be­gins at 8 am across nine polling sta­tions and ends prompt­ly at 6 pm.

For­mer mi­nor­i­ty leader Kelvon Mor­ris is vy­ing for po­lit­i­cal leader while lead­ing the Team Uni­ty slate.

Ex-To­ba­go West MP Sham­fa Cud­joe is al­so con­test­ing the lead­er­ship post, but as an in­de­pen­dent can­di­date.

The win­ner will re­place the out­go­ing An­cil Den­nis, who took charge of the par­ty in the last four years de­spite not be­ing an elect­ed mem­ber of the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly.

Who­ev­er be­comes the new leader will be in the same predica­ment as the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment was swept aside 15-0 in the Jan­u­ary 12 THA elec­tions.

An­oth­er keen­ly con­test­ed po­si­tion is for chair­man of the par­ty, with three can­di­dates in the race in­clud­ing Team Uni­ty’s Charles Smith, Ryan Joe­field (in­de­pen­dent) and Nicole Hen­ry (in­de­pen­dent).​

The can­di­dates have been cam­paign­ing hard in the last few weeks on the ground as well as through so­cial me­dia.

In an in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, PNM To­ba­go Coun­cil of­fi­cial Dion Brown said every­thing is in place and he ex­pects a high vot­er turnout.

“We don’t have any ma­jor chal­lenges at the mo­ment. One mi­nor is­sue is to get stuff to the coun­try­side, but that is be­ing ironed out at the mo­ment,” he said.

He as­sured a fair elec­tion, not­ing that bal­lot box­es will be sealed be­fore they are opened this morn­ing and will be sealed once polling sta­tions have closed.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia Yes­ter­day, Cud­joe, who was about to do her fi­nal leg of cam­paign­ing, ac­knowl­edged some con­cerns head­ing in­to the elec­tion.

Af­ter ques­tion­ing how this me­dia house found out about her queries about the vot­ers’ list, she ac­knowl­edged that the re­ports were true.

She said, “Af­ter be­ing un­able to get the mat­ter re­solved by tele­phone calls and con­ver­sa­tion, I wrote a let­ter on April 15 and didn’t get a prop­er re­sponse, so I de­cid­ed to write again.”

She de­clined to give fur­ther de­tails, say­ing the let­ter “was sup­posed to be pri­vate and con­fi­den­tial.”

Asked how she in­tends to nav­i­gate lead­er­ship of the par­ty, if suc­cess­ful, while​ be­ing out­side the As­sem­bly, Cud­joe said the biggest task is to unite the mem­ber­ship.

“Our busi­ness first and fore­most is re­unit­ing the par­ty and re­gain­ing trust,” she replied.

Mor­ris has of­fered an olive branch to Cud­joe if elect­ed, say­ing a post of deputy leader of the Coun­cil would be cre­at­ed for some­one like her.

A con­fi­dent Cud­joe yes­ter­day said she will con­tin­ue to work with the PNM with or with­out an of­fi­cial post.

Mean­while, Mor­ris was al­so try­ing to whip up some last-minute sup­port in To­ba­go East yes­ter­day as his Team Uni­ty slate vis­it­ed Hope, Rox­bor­ough and oth­er com­mu­ni­ties.

He said calls were made to many mem­bers, but he felt it was al­so im­por­tant for Team Uni­ty to al­so talk to the mem­ber­ship face-to-face.

Mor­ris said he has no is­sues with the work of the Coun­cil lead­ing in­to the in­ter­nal elec­tions.

Moris said he re­mains the ide­al can­di­date to lead the par­ty and vowed to still hold the rul­ing To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty ad­min­is­tra­tion ac­count­able.

“You have the abil­i­ty to ask ques­tions in­side (the As­sem­bly), but you can al­so treat with is­sues through var­i­ous mech­a­nisms such as the Free­dom of In­for­ma­tion Act.”

Spey­side Pri­ma­ry School , Rox­bor­ough Mul­ti­pur­pose Fa­cil­i­ty, John Di­al Mul­ti­pur­pose Fa­cil­i­ty, Ma­son Hall Pri­ma­ry School, Par­latu­vi­er Mul­ti­pur­pose Fa­cil­i­ty, Bon Ac­cord Pri­ma­ry School, Low­land Mul­ti­pur­pose Fa­cil­i­ty, Ply­mouth An­gli­can Pri­ma­ry School, and Bish­op's High School.

Po­lit­i­cal leader: Sham­fa Cud­joe, Kelvon Mor­ris (Team Uni­ty)

Chair­man: Charles Smith (Team Uni­ty), Ryan Joe­field, Nicole Hen­ry

Vice Chair­man: Petal Benoit (Team Uni­ty), Kar­maria Lon­don

La­dy Vice Chair­man: Melanie Roberts Radg­man (Team Uni­ty), Melis­sa Win­ches­ter

Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary: Justin John (Team Uni­ty), Akissi Lon­don

As­sis­tant Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary: Rhon­da Phillips (Team Uni­ty), Shim­i­ca Top­pin

Trea­sur­er: Clarence Ja­cob (Team Uni­ty), Quin­cy Trim

Ed­u­ca­tion Of­fi­cer: Kev­ern Phillips (Team Uni­ty), Iyana Phillips

PRO: Joseph Fred­er­ick (Team Uni­ty), Akeel Guy, Lor­raine Forbes

So­cial Me­dia Of­fi­cer: Tiffany An­der­son (Team Uni­ty), Zak Williams

Elec­tions Of­fi­cer: Mar­ilon David (Team Uni­ty), Afi­ah James

Re­search Of­fi­cer: Vaughn Charles (Team Uni­ty), Liam Wilkin­son

Wel­fare Of­fi­cer: Lois Small (Team Uni­ty), Joan Williams Tay­lor

Field Of­fi­cer: Ryan Roberts (Team Uni­ty), Camisha Bac­chus

Op­er­a­tions Of­fi­cer: An­cil Thorne, Learie McKen­zie

Labour Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer: Desmond Woods (Team Uni­ty), Rus­selle Wil­son

Youth Of­fi­cer: Car­lesia Mcewen (Team Uni­ty), L'Shau­na No­ray