Arima mayor, councillors back Toney in COP election

Fifteen Congress of the People (COP) councillors and one mayor yesterday threw their support behind the party’s incumbent chairman, Joseph Toney. Toney will square off with Public Administration Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan and attorney Rekha Ramjit in the October 28 internal elections.

The councillors are from the Arima Borough Council, Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation and the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation. In endorsing Toney at the Arima Town Hall, Arima Mayor Ghassan Youseph urged party faithful to rally behind Toney, who they felt was capable of bringing reform to both politics and government.

Youseph said the COP should have a chairman who is not involved in Cabinet and remains committed to its members. Confident that he would retain his position as chairman, Toney said he had received endorsements from several individuals, some of whom he described as senior and influential in the COP.

“When I got into the party two years ago, the party was battling to ensure that they are influential within the Government.” Toney said in the last two years, he had made pronouncements about where the COP should and should not be. “I have defended the party. I have made the position of the party very clear. So much so, that the COP is an important voice in the politics of the country.”