Bypassed PNM assemblyman jumps ship to DAC

Hughford McKenna, incumbent PNM Assemblyman for Belle Garden/Goodwood and Secretary of Agriculture, who was bypassed for re-election by the ruling party, yesterday sprung a surprise and sent mild shock waves through the political arena, when he publicly appeared on the platform of the Democratic Action Congress (DAC) at Scarborough Market Square. Occasion was the official launch of the DAC’s campaign and presentation of its candidates for the January 17 Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election. McKenna told Newsday he was not a candidate for the DAC but he “supported the party (DAC) 150 per cent”. He claimed that all his supporters have assured him that they “will support me wherever I go.” McKenna actually ‘changed skin’ into a DAC jersey in full public glare on the DAC platform yesterday evening.

McKenna was not selected by the PNM as a candidate in the upcoming THA polls. He was replaced by Wendell Berkely. Meanwhile, up to press time yesterday, the DAC had presented five of its 12 candidates of TEAM DAC 2005 to contest the polls. They are: Harrisford McMillan (Bethel/Mt Irvine); Orville Jordan (Bacolet/Mt St George); Clarence Holmes (Buccoo/Mt Pleasant); George Graham (Black Rock/Whim/Spring Garden); and Tracey Tobias, who served as a DAC Councillor in the last THA, for Belle Garden/Goodwood. Other known DAC candidates are THA Minority Leader and DAC leader Hochoy Charles; NAR leader Cecil Caruth who has now shifted allegiance to the DAC; Judy Bobb, a past NAR Assemblywoman and Secretary of Health; Ashworth Jack, incumbent DAC Assemblyman; and Lennox Christmas, a senior public servant. The electoral districts in which these persons would contest were not divulged up to press time.