Camille McEach­nie

The Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) can­di­date for To­ba­go West Sham­fa Cud­joe says she is “un­both­ered” by the Non-Aligned To­ba­go Politi­cians’ sup­port for the Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots (PDP).

On Wednes­day, a group of for­mer politi­cians who served in the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly and Par­lia­ment held a news con­fer­ence at the Blue Crab Restau­rant, Scar­bor­ough, en­dors­ing the PDP.

Most of the vet­er­ans had op­posed the PNM over the years.

Com­ment­ing on their ac­tions on Thurs­day evening, Cud­joe said their sup­port would have lit­tle ef­fect on the elec­torate.

“I know they have ex­pressed sup­port for the PDP. It is sad when your hate for the PNM is greater than your love for To­ba­go. At the end of the day, To­bag­o­ni­ans need to choose To­ba­go first,” she told Guardian Me­dia as she walked the Sou Sou lands com­mu­ni­ty.

She said the elec­torate would not heed the for­mer politi­cians call to vote for the PDP.

“I don’t think that (their call) will af­fect the To­ba­go elec­torate. This group of old­er politi­cians, who all of a sud­den have now found their voice...I think they know the (PDP) is not the best op­tion for To­ba­go,” she added.

The PNM To­ba­go West rep­re­sen­ta­tive, who is seek­ing a sec­ond term to rep­re­sent the area, ex­pressed con­fi­dence in re­tain­ing the seat.

“For the most part, the re­cep­tion on the grounds has been good...the peo­ple are rolling with the PNM. I feel at the end of the day the sup­port will be re­sound­ing for the PNM,” she said.

The group of for­mer politi­cians com­pris­es of as­sem­bly­men Dr Jeff David­son, George Stan­ley Beard, Max James, Car­lyle Dick, Ce­cile Caruth, Reg­is Caruth, and for­mer par­lia­men­tar­i­an Pamela Nichol­son.

James is the on­ly per­son who has ever open­ly sup­port­ed the PNM.

The for­mer politi­cians be­moaned the sta­tus of the To­ba­go Au­ton­o­my Bill, point­ing out that the PNM had promised to de­liv­er it dur­ing the 2015-2020 pe­ri­od.

They al­so point­ed to the neg­a­tive Au­di­tor Gen­er­al’s re­ports on the THA au­dit­ed fi­nan­cial state­ments.

In a re­lease, the PNM lam­bast­ed the group call­ing them “failed politi­cians” who were asleep for 20 years and in a co­ma for five.