The 2015 general elections political campaign has officially started in Tobago. On March 8, People's National Movement (PNM) chairFrankyn Khanannouced the names of the candidates for the two Tobago seats.
Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Assemblyman for Goodwood / Belle Garden Wendell Berkley and PNM Senator Shamfa Cudjoe were given the nod to represent Tobago East and West respectively.
Berkleyis a former Assemblyman, the current Chairman of the Tobago East constituency and the current Vice Chairman of the Tobago Council. He saidhe is ready for the task ahead, and identified several "outstanding" areas that would require his attention.
"There are some areas in Tobago that has been outstanding for a while, for example there is the North East development plan, there is the Windward development plan, there are some plans that the THA has and of course there would be those as planned by the Central Government."
Cudjoe, the lone nominee for the Tobago West seat, was named by 24 party groups. She said Tobago's autonomy would be one of her priorities.
"What I have to offer the people of Tobago West and the people of Tobago by extension is my commitment to work with the Tobago House of Assembly to increase its autonomy and to bring the necessary resources and access to opportunities for Tobagonians like that experienced in Trinidad and even better," Cudjoe said.
Speaking at anews conference at the Hampden Lowlands Community Centre on Sunday, the PNM chair said Berkley and Cudjoewere chosen from a field of seven nominees. All 41 candidates to contest the 2015 elections are to be sent to the party's central executive for approval. Khansaid that the Central Executive does not usually override the decision of the screening committee, andhe expects all the candidates to be formally approved.
"From here on the campaign has started for the people of Tobago. The party's leadership is extremely confident based on our victory in the 2013 THA elections that we will be winning the two Tobago seats in Tobago East and Tobago West," Khan said.
Meanwhile Deputy Political Leader, Tobago Council, Orville London says the he was impressed by the calibreof candidates screened for the seats. He said the strength of the candidatesmade it a toughdecision.
"It was a very close contest. Everybody displayed strengths, everybody displayed characteristics which we considered to be positive and at the end of the exercise based on the recommendation of the executive and our own observations we would have a decision, but it was very very close and there were other candidates who were almost as impressive but it was just all-round attributes."
Four out of the seven candidates screened for the Tobago seats are under 40 years old. London said the youth participation in politics shows that the PNM is in good hands.