Zoe: Extremely disappointed at not being selected

In a phone interview with Newsday yesterday, Zoe said he felt the selection process had gone well and was extremely disappointed when it was announced last Monday that he was not chosen as the party’s representative.

This is the second time Zoe has been rejected by the party.

He first placed his hat in the ring as the prospective candidate for the Toco/Sangre Grande area but was also rejected then.

Zoe told Newsday the area’s residents have since called for him to throw his hat into the ring as an independent candidate for the upcoming local government election.

Zoe said, however, he has not fully made up his mind as yet as to what he will do. After meetings by the area’s residents - one was held yesterday - it would be determined whether or not he enters the election.

Earlier this year, incumbent chairman and representative for the Toco /Fishing Pond area Terry Rondon decided to contest again after initially saying he would not.

In an earlier interview with Newsday, Rondon was quoted as saying he re-entered because he felt that the tipped representative-Zoe-was not ready for office.

Zoe who described himself as PNM to the bone said he would not want to do anything to derail the party nor result in the party losing the election.

However, Zoe said the people of area expressed to him that they wanted a change in representation.

Zoe said he received five of the seven nominations for the area. The party, he said, did not do much research into what the people on the ground wanted.

Many of the people, he said, expressed that they might not vote. The selection process for candidates needed to be further explained to the people and the people needed to become a part of the process since, “The Toco man is no longer the bush man living behind God’s back. We have been informed through technology- Facebook, What’s App, and social media.” There were also many young university graduates in the area now. Although asked whether he might consider running for the United National Congress (UNC), Zoe said that is not something he envisions.

He added that he felt the time had come for the party to look at its selection process. It was reported on Saturday that Port-of-Spain mayor Keron Valentine was also rejected by the party’s screening committee.