Gunning for Grande

And with just over one week to go before the poll, the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) and the United National Congress (UNC), despite reports of internal wrangling and defections in both entities, are pulling out the stops through walkabouts and cottage meetings in a bid to win the corporation.

In fact, the campaign for control of the corporation has been anything but dull.

In an especially shocking scenario, Rajkumar Bhagaloo, who sat in the SGRC Chamber as the UNC councillor for Cumuto/Tamana during the 2013-2016 term, became the PNM’s choice for the area despite an expressed willingness by several die-hard activists to contest the electoral district. The move was said to have been strategic.

Similarly, Sangre Grande businessman Anil Juteram, once a PNM member, has again gone to the UNC as the candidate for Vega de Oropouche.

Juteram, who was expelled from the PNM in September, following the news that he had offered himself as a candidate for the UNC, said he was ready to give back by serving constituents in the Parliament.

“Being a person interacting with the community for a number of years, people of all ethnic and political persuasions, I think it is very critical, the crossroads we are at in Trinidad to come out to serve in a patriotic fashion,” he told Sunday Newsday.

“Even those who may not be in support of me or my political party, I am still going to work in their best interests.” Juteram, who had unsuccessfully contested the then Toco/Manzanilla seat twice for the UNC in 2001 and 2002, said he was concerned about uniting the constituency.

“At the end of the day, we are not concerned about the division in society but we are concerned with uniting our region under one umbrella to make it a more progressive and safer environment for every Sangre Grande resident,” he said.

Also crossing the floor are former UNC councillors Debbie Harris and Ravi Lakhan, who are representing the Sangre Grande South and Vega de Oropouche electoral districts, respectively, as members of the National Solidarity Assembly (NSA), the newest political entity in the fray.

Harris said serious queries in the UNC’s process to select candidates for the election caused her and others to sever ties with the party.

“I was a member for 19 years, serving at the party group and at the level of the constituency executive and I have paid my dues,” she said. “But when the selection was made, they chose Kennick Seupaul, who was the ILP’s candidate in 2013. The UNC also did the same thing in Manzanilla by putting up someone (Kenwyn Phillip) who was the ILP’s candidate in 2013.” Harris said Lakhan also has been replaced by Juteram She claimed that in the Sangre Grande South electoral district, Kennick Seupaul was never screened with the rest of the candidates.

“He was chosen before the candidates were presented. That is not transparent and it was an insult to those who really went through the proper channels. If that is how we handle things I don’t want to be apart off that.” Asked why she joined the NSA, Harris said she welcomed the party’s philosophy of meaningful inclusion as opposed to politics based on race and party affiliation.

“Race must stop being an issue in the country. It is always an issue ever since I was growing up and it must stop,” she insisted.

“We have to look now at country and community first. Serve all.

That is the mantra of the NSA and that is my passion.” The NSA, which emerged out of the All Trinidad General Workers Trade Union (ATGWTU), is contesting five of the eight electoral districts in the corporation: Sangre Grande North East; Vega de Oropouche; Sangre Grande South; Sangre Grande North West and Manzanilla. The party’s political leader Nirvan Maharaj told Sunday Newsday that the decision to contest the SGRC was strategic.

“Sangre Grande is the perfect place to test the waters by giving the people an alternative,” he said.

“No one political party has a divine right to support. The UNC and PNM do not own anyone’s vote.

Maharaj observed the UNC and PNM were “almost equal in strength” at the corporation - a scenario which, he felt, augured well or the NSA.

“We are offering voters a new vision based on issues rather than skin colour. We are encouraging people to vote on nationalism and patriotism rather than party.” He, however, acknowledged the magnitude of the task at hand.

“We do not have any delusion of grandeur. We know it s a huge task to change patterns of voting but we are hoping for a new dawn to see the dynamics change,” Maharaj said.

The PNM currently controls five of the eight electoral districts in the corporation, which serves residents in the largely rural Toco/ Sangre Grande and Cumuto/Manzanilla constituencies.

It was one of eight corporations which the PNM won in the 2013 Local Government Election.

Following Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s announcement of the Local Government Election date in October, UNC chairman David Lee said the party hoped to increase its standing with an outright win the SGRC.

Rowley also has urged supporters to help the PNM retain control of the corporation. The PNM’s slate includes veteran Martin Terry Rondon, sitting SGRC chairman, who is again contesting the Toco/Fishing Pond electoral district and Soca Warrior footballer Anthony Wolfe, the candidate for Manzanilla.

Yesterday, Rondon was confident that the PNM will retain the corporation.

“We are going to take back the corporation because we have unfinished work to complete and our candidates are of high of a high calibre,” he said.

Rondon said the candidates were very excited at the proposed Local Government reform and its implications for building the region.

The PNM holds its final meeting of the campaign in Sangre Grande on Friday.

Former Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Collin Partap regarded the corporation as “a marker” for the rest of the country.

“How Sangre Grande goes, so does the mood of TT,” he said.

“Sangre Grande has all the components of the country - a good ethnic, social and economic mix. It is a microcosm of TT.” Partap, who served the constituency from 2010 to 2015, could not predict a clear winner in the race fro the corporation but said the outcome could change the political dynamics.

“The PNM actually has it right now but if they lose they could go from eight corporations to seven and the UNC, if they win, can go from having six corporations currently to seven.” Partap observed that former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar also had taken a keen interest in the corporation when she hosted cottage meetings and walkabouts in the area a few weeks ago.

“As prime minister, she never did that,” he said.

On this occasion, though, Partap claimed there was some discontent among UNC loyalists with respect to the candidates that were selected.

The party’s slate includes three former ILP candidates.

“This has led to some councillors saying that they want nothing to do with the UNC,” he said.

Partap felt the NSA, as a third party in the fight, could affect traditional UNC votes.

PNM general secretary Ashton Ford said the corporation has long been one that could go either to the PNM or UNC in elections, hence the reason for the intense attention by both parties.

“It is definitely an area to watch,” he said, noting the PNM has opted traditionally to end its campaigns in Sangre Grande.

Former PNM minister Overand Padmore agreed the corporation has played a decisive role in the fortunes of political parties but said he never got the impression that it was a “jewel in the crown” for the PNM.