Local Govt campaign heats up in Central

PNM’s new Central  Regional Office at Gaston Street, Chaguanas, opened a month ago, is causing some concern in the ranks of the opposition United National Congress (UNC).

The governing party believes it can capture a few seats in the Chaguanas Borough Corporation  and the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation.Satish Ramroop, Parl-iamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, who lost the Caroni Central seat to Dr Hamza Rafeeq in the General Elections of 1995, has been the working force behind the Central PNM Regional Office. At the moment the PNM holds the Enterprise South Seat in the Chaguanas Borough and with some strategy, they hope to make a breakthrough in Montrose, Longdenville and Edinburgh 500.

The PNM is hopeful that they could capture those seats. Ramroop said “we are watching with some degree of jubilation that several UNC members are jumping ship  and coming over to the PNM as they are disappointed with the direction the UNC has taken since they lost control of the Government.” “The road is wide open and clear and we are getting favourable vibes that we could win the Chaguanas Borough,” added Ramroop. He said that the PNM had gone ahead and had done renovation work on the Chaguanas Community Centre and had established a project at Felicity helping the aged in gaining some measure of relief “so that in the main we have entered into areas that hitherto were difficult and impossible for the PNM,” Ramroop said.

But Chaguanas Mayor, Orlando Nagessar and MP for Chaguanas Manohar Ramsaran-Co-ordinators of the UNC in central, said the “PNM is living in a fool’s paradise — thinking that they can come into the UNC heartland and make a breakthrough.” ‘We will have none of it and that on God’s face the PNM will not see,” Nagessar said. “Apart from that, they are closing down the sugar industry and will be putting some 10,000 sugar workers on the breadline and they expect to win in Chaguanas? That is nothing short of madness,” Nagessar said. “Come July 14 and they will get a rude shock,”’ said the Mayor. And what will be the case in the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation? The PNM’s is counting on its trump card Rhonda Bartholomew-John to win the California/Pt Lisas District. She is popular and well-known and she could make the change in the voting pattern in the sugar belt.