Former People's Partnership senator Nicole Dyer-Griffith, who is contesting an executive post in the Congress of the People (COP) executive election, feels the party needs to be more strategic and to strengthen its processes. "People ask me daily where are we and what are we doing. There's a lot of work that needs to be done not only for COP to ensure we stay on track.
"You can't just say you have arrived, you are in government and leave it there," Dyer-Griffith said in an interview. "Politics is very dynamic in T&T and this affords an opportunity to always examine what we are doing and keep it right," she added. Dyer-Griffith is hoping to get an opportunity to help the COP strengthen systems, via the October 28 COP executive election, in which she is contesting the post of deputy chairman. She is up against Vido Ramroop and Hugh Nurse.
The post was formerly held by Vernon de Lima, who resigned in September after his motion seeking Minister Jack Warner's removal was defeated and amended by the COP's Council. De Lima has said he is "out of it." In the election, eight out of the 22 nominees for the nine posts are women.
Among them are MP Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, contesting the post of chairman against incumbent Joseph Toney and Rekha Ramjit. Dyer-Griffith, who was removed from the Senate to make way for new PP senators in the June reshuffle, said she was prompted to vie for party office by "all the dynamics" in the COP.
She said: "COP is more than MPs who represent us. We need to have a clear ideas of who are members and how to reignite them, as we did in 2007, and ensure COP is on the right track."The party is still vibrant and we need to co-opt that to ensure the overarching vibrancy of 2007 is re-sparked."
