For­mer prime min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning is "pro­gress­ing nice­ly" at the Wash­ing­ton, DC, re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion cen­tre where he is be­ing treat­ed for a stroke, ac­cord­ing to his per­son­al pro­to­col of­fi­cer, Wendy Lewis. She of­fered the up­date on the health of the San Fer­nan­do East MP dur­ing a prayer meet­ing yes­ter­day at his con­stituen­cy of­fice, Cof­fee Street, San Fer­nan­do. The ses­sion, where mem­bers and sup­port­ers of the Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) prayed for Man­ning's full re­cov­ery, was at­tend­ed by the Op­po­si­tion MP's son, Bri­an, as well as well-wish­ers.

It was or­gan­ised by chair of the par­ty's Women's League, Laven­tille East/Mor­vant MP Don­na Cox. Pas­tor Joan Al­leyne, of the Open Bible Church, told the gath­er­ing many peo­ple failed to re­alise Man­ning was "a man and not a god. This is a les­son for all of us." She urged the gath­er­ing to "pray for him to get stronger." Al­so of­fer­ing prayers was Pas­tor Kei­th Per­reira, who said the PNM was "the gov­ern­ment in wait­ing." Man­ning suf­fered a stroke at his home, Sumadh Gar­dens, Vista­bel­la, San Fer­nan­do, on Jan­u­ary 23.