PNM rising in Central Trinidad

THE BALISIER is blooming in Central Trinidad with a significant number of former United National Congress (UNC) supporters now joining the ranks of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM).

Prime Minister Patrick Manning made this revelation when he addressed a news conference after a meeting of the PNM General Council at Balisier House yesterday. The Prime Minister and PNM political Leader said the party’s recent membership drive throughout Trinidad and Tobago has resulted in 7,000 persons joining the PNM and he was very pleased about that. “We are particularly pleased with the response coming from Central Trinidad. There was a significant influx of people who traditionally have not supported our political party,” Manning declared. Reiterating the PNM’s longstanding “open-door” policy, the Prime Minister said the party’s General Council will do all in its power to ensure that new members feel welcome within the PNM and are allowed to contribute fully to all areas of the party’s development.

Manning said several constituencies across TT have already elected new executives and these will be going into pre-conference mode in preparation for the PNM’s annual general convention which will run from October 25 to 26 at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre. He said there were no nominations for any of the party’s executive posts at this time. Manning also said Laventille MPs Fitzgerald Hinds and Eulalie James praised Government’s efforts “to bring about social change in the Laventille area” by transforming the Old Government Rum Bond on the Eastern Main Road into a training facility for the youths of Laventille. The Prime Minister added that the facility will be fully on stream in eight months’ time.

Manning said the emergence of private entrepreneurs from the ranks of CEPEP companies “testifies to the fact that the concept of CEPEP was well formulated in the first place and we believe that the Government will succeed in our efforts with this major programme of empowerment for the traditionally dispossessed.” The Prime Minister declined to say when the 2003/2004 Budget will be presented but stated that there was still work to be completed Government sources have identified October 6 as Budget Day with the Ministries of Health, Education and National Security receiving increased financial allocations.