JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Mixed reactions to Cuffie’s exit

by

Jesse Ramdeo
1898 days ago
20200514
One of the bad roads in Talparo in Maxie Cuffie constituency.

One of the bad roads in Talparo in Maxie Cuffie constituency.

KERWIN PIERRE

There were mixed re­ac­tions in La Hor­quet­ta/ Tal­paro yes­ter­day to news that Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for the area, Max­ie Cuffie, has opt­ed out of the up­com­ing Gen­er­al Elec­tions.

Cuffie, who in a state­ment to his con­stituents hours ear­li­er pledged his com­mit­ment to rep­re­sent the area un­til the end of his tenure, said he did not want his med­ical con­di­tion to be­come a dis­trac­tion in the fu­ture. How­ev­er, some felt the for­mer Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Min­is­ter had dropped the ball be­fore his med­ical con­di­tion.

In Tal­paro, res­i­dents said calls to ad­dress wa­ter woes and oth­er is­sues seem­ing­ly fell on deaf ears.

“I would say I’ve nev­er seen him for the years he has been in the ser­vice of the peo­ple and haven’t re­al­ly done any­thing for the ser­vice of the peo­ple. We have been fight­ing up for wa­ter for years up­on years now, noth­ing,” one fruit ven­dor said.

He said con­cerns over Cuffie’s rep­re­sen­ta­tion pre­dat­ed his med­ical sit­u­a­tion.

“I know the man is a sick man but Max­ie Cuffie hasn’t re­al­ly done any­thing for us.”

A res­i­dent in La Hor­quet­ta be­lieved Cuffie had done his best de­spite his chal­lenges.

“At least they should give him a five, be­cause his con­di­tion, and his brains you know al­though he sup­posed to be there, I would’ve liked him to go back up, but he’s a work­ing man.”

In 2017, the for­mer Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Min­is­ter was forced to seek med­ical treat­ment abroad af­ter suf­fer­ing a stroke.

It cost the state near­ly $2.5 mil­lion.

In his state­ment, Cuffie cit­ed his health con­di­tion as a de­ter­min­ing fac­tor not to re-con­test the seat where he had beat­en the Peo­ple’s Part­ner­ship’s Jairam Seemu­n­gal at the 2015 polls.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia lim­it­ed via skype, po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst Dr Win­ford James said the chal­lenges of a Gen­er­al Elec­tion would have been too much for Cuffie to en­dure.

“I don’t know the ex­tent to which the prob­lem still re­mains with him, but he was good enough to be giv­en a job, but I don’t think he could have gone through the rigours of an­oth­er elec­toral cam­paign.”

Dr James main­tained Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley made the right de­ci­sion not to re­move Cuffie from of­fice and trig­ger a by-elec­tion dur­ing his health dilem­ma.

Mean­while, when con­tact­ed PNM’s pub­lic re­la­tions of­fi­cer Lau­rel Leza­ma Lee Sing said can­di­dates were yet to be screened for the seat now about to be va­cat­ed by Cuffie.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored