New TT party launches in New Jersey

Contacted yesterday at his New Jersey businessplace, Sims told Newsday that his National Democratic Party (NDP) will be presented to the electorate in TT early next year.

He was optimistic that it would have a positive impact on the political landscape of the country. Sims claimed that the population is fed up with the archaic brand of politics being practised by the PNM and UNC and are crying out for a new brand of governance in TT.

"Wherever I go people have asked me to become involved in politics. In the US, Trinis have approached me to take success to Trinidad," he stated.

The successful owner of a chain of restaurants in several parts of the US, Caroni-born Sims was the holder of several political posts in New Jersey.

However, Sims indicated that because "the two main political parties have failed the country" he has decided to quit his US political obligations and offer his services to TT. Sims has previously given support to both the PNM and UNC in the past but said he was no longer willing to back either party in the next general elections which are constitutionally due in 2007.

He said despite the energy windfall that the country is currently experiencing, crime and poverty remain major societal ills and the NDP will place issues such as these on the frontburner of its national agenda.