Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter 

UNC Na­pari­ma con­stituen­cy ex­ec­u­tive chair­man Shaz­an Mo­hammed has called for the UNC to hold na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive elec­tions and to post­pone the screen­ing of gen­er­al elec­tion nom­i­nees. How­ev­er, Na­pari­ma ex­ec­u­tive par­ty or­gan­is­er Rafi Mo­hammed and alder­woman Vashti Sookhoo dis­agree with his stance.

Mean­while, UNC of­fi­cials yes­ter­day re­it­er­at­ed that na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive elec­tions will be held in ac­cor­dance with the par­ty con­sti­tu­tion when they are due, and the UNC press­es on with gen­er­al elec­tion prepa­ra­tions, in­clud­ing nom­i­na­tions and screen­ing. 

The par­ty’s dead­line for GE nom­i­na­tions is next week Thurs­day. Screen­ing is due to start in May.

Shaz­an Mo­hammed, chair­man of UNC MP Rod­ney Charles’ Na­pari­ma unit, yes­ter­day emerged in sup­port of Ma­yaro MP Rush­ton Paray’s call for Na­tex elec­tions. Paray al­so re­cent­ly sig­nalled in­ter­est in the lead­er­ship post. Paray’s Na­tex call was sup­port­ed by Charles, Cu­mu­to/Man­zanil­la MP Dr Rai Rag­bir (who had called for lead­er­ship and Na­tex polls), and MP Ani­ta Haynes-Al­leyne.

MP Di­nesh Ram­bal­ly, who hint­ed at not con­test­ing the gen­er­al elec­tion, has been silent thus far. 

But all oth­er UNC MPs and Sen­a­tors slammed the group’s moves and ral­lied around the leader. UNC leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar sub­se­quent­ly said Na­tex elec­tions would be held when con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly due. Paray and oth­ers said they await a Na­tex elec­tion date.

Yes­ter­day, Shaz­an Mo­hammed’s state­ment in­di­cat­ed that the Na­pari­ma ex­ec­u­tive “ful­ly en­dors­es the call for in­ter­nal elec­tions when they are due ... in June ... when it is con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly due” and for post­pone­ment of screen­ing for the 2025 gen­er­al elec­tion.

Mo­hammed said MP Charles “im­pa­tient­ly awaits the date when free and fair Na­tex elec­tions are held to de­ter­mine the true will of the mem­bers as to who will serve on Na­tex.

We are com­fort­ed by com­ments by the lead­er­ship that in­ter­nal elec­tions will be held when due.

“The con­stituen­cy ex­ec­u­tive al­so ful­ly sup­ports the view that it is not prop­er pro­to­col to be screen­ing can­di­dates for a gen­er­al elec­tion due late next year while Na­tex elec­tions are on the im­me­di­ate hori­zon. We feel it would be much bet­ter for a new­ly elect­ed Na­tex to de­ter­mine the se­lec­tion of the most qual­i­fied can­di­dates for the UNC for the gen­er­al elec­tion due in 2025.

“Yes­ter­day, Paray sup­port­ed Mo­hammed’s call. “Yes, call the date for the in­ter­nal elec­tions now! And post­pone UNC’s GE screen­ing!” Charles, Rag­bir, and Haynes-Al­leyne did not com­ment.  

We don’t agree—Rafi Mo­hammed, Vashti Sookhoo

Shaz­an Mo­hammed said the views in his state­ment “are au­tho­rised by the ma­jor­i­ty of (Na­pari­ma) ex­ec­u­tive mem­bers who con­tact­ed me to in­di­cate our sup­port pub­licly for the elec­tions and for the date to be an­nounced.”But Na­pari­ma ex­ec­u­tive par­ty or­gan­is­er Rafi Mo­hammed (vice chair­man of Princes Town re­gion­al cor­po­ra­tion) said he dis­agreed with Shaz­an Mo­hammed.

“The views in that state­ment don’t rep­re­sent me or Alder­woman Sookhoo. We to­tal­ly dis­agree with it. We’re not part of it. We’ve dis­tanced our­selves from their moves since some were seen at Mr Paray’s me­dia con­fer­ence re­cent­ly.

“The UNC, as a proac­tive par­ty, will do what it has to. Elec­tions are in the air, it’s a top­ic you hear a lot from the Gov­ern­ment and see from their ac­tiv­i­ties. It could be in 2025 or now, so we have to be pre­pared.”

Alder­woman Sookhoo added, “(Shaz­an Mo­hammed’s) state­ment wasn’t unan­i­mous­ly from the ex­ec­u­tive. We were not privy to those dis­cus­sions they were hav­ing or their re­lease. I don’t agree with it as it doesn’t speak for me or Rafi Mo­hammed.”

 Shaz­an Mo­hammed did not re­ply to calls. 

Paray and Rai will still sub­mit GE nom­i­na­tions

UNC of­fi­cials said the par­ty’s leader had al­ready spo­ken in the Na­tex elec­tions. They said they ex­pect­ed peo­ple who had at­tend­ed Paray’s re­cent me­dia brief­ing to con­tin­ue mak­ing “Na­tex elec­tion” calls on be­half of him and the oth­er three MPs.The UNC opened gen­er­al elec­tion nom­i­na­tions last De­cem­ber. The PNM’s Gen­er­al Coun­cil was put on GE foot­ing in Jan­u­ary.

On March 7, Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley, at a Ch­agua­nas PNM meet­ing, hint­ed that an elec­tion would be due “some­time soon” and may be the “most sig­nif­i­cant in T&T’s his­to­ry.”

Ap­prox­i­mate­ly 200 UNC gen­er­al elec­tion nom­i­na­tion forms have been sought by peo­ple.

De­spite Shaz­an Mo­hammed’s call for post­pone­ment of the GE screen­ing,

Paray and Rag­bir said yes­ter­day they will sub­mit their re­spec­tive nom­i­na­tions.

Paray said, “It’s a re­quire­ment and stands at this time,”Ma­yaro mem­bers de­nied that a Ma­yaro busi­ness­woman might be “se­lect­ed” to re­place Paray.

Na­pari­ma MP Charles is out, hav­ing said last De­cem­ber that his ac­tive po­lit­i­cal ca­reer ends ahead and he won’t con­test elec­tions. Haynes-Al­leyne sig­nalled an in­ten­tion to seek the Tabaquite nom­i­na­tion.

UNC par­ty of­fi­cials not­ed that by-elec­tions for Quinam-Morne Di­a­blo and Lengua-In­di­an Walk are al­so ex­pect­ed. Quinam-Morne Di­a­blo coun­cil­lor Diptee Ram­nath died last De­cem­ber. A by-elec­tion is due in Lengua In­di­an Walk af­ter UNC’s loss of its elec­tion pe­ti­tion re­gard­ing the Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment elec­tions re­sults in that seat in the Au­gust 2023 polls.