Sto­ries by Akash Sama­roo

Lead Ed­i­tor - Pol­i­tics

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

From the hills of Glam­or­gan to the streets of Scar­bor­ough, Nom­i­na­tion Day for the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly (THA) elec­tions brought a buzz across the is­land, as 42 can­di­dates of­fi­cial­ly of­fered them­selves for pub­lic ser­vice and a chance to se­cure a seat in the is­land’s leg­is­la­ture.

Fol­low­ing the clo­sure of re­turn­ing of­fi­cers’ of­fices at 3 pm across To­ba­go’s four lo­ca­tions, the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) con­firmed that the two main par­ties, the To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty (TPP) and the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM), each filed 15 can­di­dates. Mean­while, the In­no­v­a­tive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Al­liance (IDA) sub­mit­ted 11 can­di­dates, and Nick­o­cy Phillips was the sole nom­i­nee for the Uni­ty of the Peo­ple par­ty.

This meant that Ri­car­do Phillip of the Class Ac­tion Re­form Move­ment (CARM) and An­tho­ny James of the To­ba­go Lib­er­a­tion Move­ment (TLM) did not con­test the Jan­u­ary 12 elec­tions.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia, Chief Elec­tions Of­fi­cer Fern Nar­cis said there were no ir­reg­u­lar­i­ties and that “every­thing went smooth­ly.”

The day un­fold­ed with the fa­mil­iar fan­fare and pageantry, as both the TPP and the PNM mo­bilised hun­dreds of sup­port­ers clad in par­ty colours, wav­ing flags and ban­ners bear­ing the faces and names of their pre­ferred can­di­dates. Mu­sic trucks roamed through­out the day, blast­ing pop­u­lar hits re­worked with par­ty slo­gans and can­di­date en­dorse­ments.

There were no re­ports of vi­o­lence. Ahead of the de­mo­c­ra­t­ic ex­er­cise, both the PNM and TPP urged their sup­port­ers to main­tain peace. Po­lice of­fi­cers briefly in­ter­vened at the Buc­coo Mul­ti-Pur­pose Fa­cil­i­ty, where sup­port­ers from both par­ties — dressed in red and blue — crossed paths while chant­i­ng, danc­ing, and play­ing mu­sic. Of­fi­cers oc­ca­sion­al­ly urged re­straint as ten­sions threat­ened to rise, but they lat­er down­played the en­counter.

Ear­li­er in the day, Chief Sec­re­tary and TPP po­lit­i­cal leader Far­ley Au­gus­tine filed his nom­i­na­tion at the Glam­or­gan Mul­ti-Pur­pose Fa­cil­i­ty to de­fend his Par­latu­vi­er/L’Anse Four­mi/Spey­side seat. He was ac­com­pa­nied by deputy TPP leader Dr Faith Breb­nor (Belle Gar­den/Glam­or­gan) and fel­low TPP can­di­date Or­lan­do Kerr (Rox­bor­ough/Ar­gyle).

Af­ter about 30 min­utes, the Chief Sec­re­tary emerged jok­ing that he had de­layed the process be­cause he had not par­tic­i­pat­ed in the pre-nom­i­na­tion ex­er­cise a week ear­li­er. He said he was pleased with the process.

Re­flect­ing on his last four years in of­fice, Au­gus­tine re­called a term filled with chal­lenges. “Every­thing that could have gone wrong, went wrong to test us,” he said. “But our abil­i­ty to re­main sta­ble and con­tin­ue gov­ern­ing shows the met­tle of the lead­er­ship in To­ba­go and the par­ty.”

He re­capped some of the hur­dles: “With­in the first year we had a split from the Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots, then the au­dio-gate is­sue with the po­lice, shark at­tacks, an oil spill, and some min­i­mal dam­age from Hur­ri­cane Beryl. And now, de­spite all that, we con­tin­ue to have a sta­ble, fo­cused gov­ern­ment that pro­vides mean­ing­ful­ly for the peo­ple of To­ba­go. This shows why we are and con­tin­ue to be the best op­tion for the peo­ple of To­ba­go.”

Mean­while, IDA can­di­date Lin­da Daniel filed her nom­i­na­tion for the same seat Au­gus­tine is de­fend­ing. She told Guardian Me­dia: “We are re­set­ting the game, bring­ing new ideas, and do­ing things dif­fer­ent­ly.”

PNM can­di­date Shonae John al­so for­mal­ly filed her pa­pers for the Rox­bor­ough/Ar­gyle dis­trict. “The peo­ple on the ground need prop­er rep­re­sen­ta­tion. They need some­one fresh to lis­ten and be of ser­vice to them. It’s some­thing we’ve been call­ing for for years, and I’m ready to give them just that,” she said.

At the Buc­coo Mul­ti-Pur­pose Fa­cil­i­ty, TPP can­di­date and for­mer PNM mem­ber Keigon De­noon filed for the mar­gin­al Buc­coo/Mt Pleas­ant seat, where he will chal­lenge his for­mer po­lit­i­cal leader An­cil Den­nis. De­noon ex­pressed con­fi­dence in his can­di­da­cy: “The peo­ple see hope in me. They un­der­stand what the for­mer gives and know this is the dawn of a new era. The blue wave is here, and on Jan­u­ary 12, To­bag­o­ni­ans will make the right choice.”

Al­so at Buc­coo, IDA can­di­dates Ce­cil Noel (Bethes­da/Les Coteaux) and Sta­cy Her­bert (Buc­coo/Mt Pleas­ant) filed their nom­i­na­tions. Noel said, “I’m ready to do the work of the peo­ple and com­mit­ted to chang­ing my space.” Her­bert added that the IDA is bring­ing “good sense” to To­ba­go’s po­lit­i­cal land­scape, boost­ed by its leader Dr Denise Tsoifatt-An­gus, whom she de­scribed as “the most ex­pe­ri­enced ac­tive politi­cian in To­ba­go.”

Of­fi­cial Can­di­dates

TPP

Faith Breb­nor – Belle Gar­den/Glam­or­gan

Dar­ren Hen­ry – Bethel/New Grange

Zor­isha Hack­ett – Bethes­da/Les Coteaux

Nike­ta Per­cy – Bon Ac­cord/Crown Point

Keigon De­noon – Buc­coo/Mt Pleas­ant

Ricky Joe­field – Dar­rel Spring/Whim

Wane Clarke – Lam­beau/Low­lands

Ian Pol­lard – Ma­son Hall North/Mo­ri­ah

Nathisha Charles-Pan­tin – Ma­son Hall South/Bagatelle

Megan Mor­ri­son – Mt St George/Good­wood

Far­ley Au­gus­tine – Par­latu­vi­er/L’Anse Four­mi/Spey­side

Kern Alex­is – Ply­mouth/Black Rock

Or­lan­do Kerr – Rox­bor­ough/Ar­gyle

Trevor James – Scar­bor­ough/Mt Grace

Nigel Taitt – Sig­nal Hill/Pa­tience Hill

PNM

Carl McEwen – Belle Gar­den/Glam­or­gan

Tim­o­thy Ster­lan – Bethel/New Grange

Akeel Guy – Bethes­da/Les Coteaux

Do­minique Kerr – Bon Ac­cord/Crown Point

An­cil K. Den­nis – Buc­coo/Mt Pleas­ant

Kelvon Mor­ris – Dar­rel Spring/Whim

Kervin Hors­ford – Lam­beau/Low­lands

Kwe­si DesVi­gnes – Ma­son Hall North/Mo­ri­ah

Dex­ter Miller – Ma­son Hall South/Bagatelle

Camisha D. Bac­chus – Mt St George/Good­wood

Maxs­lon N. Roberts – Par­latu­vi­er/L’Anse Four­mi/Spey­side

Karyn Forbes – Ply­mouth/Black Rock

Shonae John – Rox­bor­ough/Ar­gyle

Petal Benoit – Scar­bor­ough/Mt Grace

Bri­an Har­ris – Sig­nal Hill/Pa­tience Hill

IDA

Jahlaun Carter – Belle Gar­den/Glam­or­gan

Ter­rence David – Bethel/New Grange

Ce­cil Noel – Bethes­da/Les Coteaux

Philbert Williams – Bon Ac­cord/Crown Point

Sta­cy Her­bert – Buc­coo/Mt Pleas­ant

Elon Berke­ly – Dar­rel Spring/Whim

Shelly-Ann Lewis – Ma­son Hall North/Mo­ri­ah

Ben Yis­rael – Ma­son Hall South/Bagatelle

Lin­da Daniel – Par­latu­vi­er/L’Anse Four­mi/Spey­side

Denise Tsoiafatt-An­gus – Scar­bor­ough/Mt Grace

Mauri­cia Dou­glas – Sig­nal Hill/Pa­tience Hill

Uni­ty of the Peo­ple

Nick­o­cy Phillips – Buc­coo/Mt Pleas­ant