Eliz­a­beth Gon­za­les

To­ba­go Cor­re­spon­dent

Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment To­ba­go Coun­cil po­lit­i­cal leader An­cil Den­nis is warn­ing To­bag­o­ni­ans to en­sure they ex­am­ine the oth­er con­tenders to see what they are tru­ly of­fer­ing.

Speak­ing dur­ing a prayer and thanks­giv­ing events host­ed by the coun­cil at the Ma­son Hall Sec­ondary School on Sat­ur­day, Den­nis said the PNM has the best can­di­dates for the up­com­ing Gen­er­al Elec­tion and warned against po­lit­i­cal ex­per­i­ments and coali­tions.

He said the par­ty’s can­di­dates, Sham­fa Cud­joe-Lewis and Ayan­na Web­ster-Roy, were the on­ly re­al choice for To­ba­go’s fu­ture.

“We have the best can­di­dates in the race,” Den­nis said. “Sham­fa Cud­joe-Lewis is the best of­fer­ing for To­ba­go West, and Ayan­na Web­ster-Roy is the best of­fer­ing for To­ba­go East. These two young, vi­brant, beau­ti­ful ladies present To­ba­go with the on­ly op­por­tu­ni­ty to con­tin­ue hav­ing two MPs not on­ly in the Par­lia­ment but al­so the Cab­i­net of the gov­ern­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

He warned that oth­er par­ties and coali­tions were formed out of self-in­ter­est rather than con­cern for the peo­ple. “Every Tom, Dick, Har­ry, and Kezel (Jack­son, All Peo­ple’s Par­ty po­lit­i­cal leader) is form­ing a po­lit­i­cal or­gan­i­sa­tion hop­ing to gov­ern you,” he said.

“And when they’re not form­ing new or­gan­i­sa­tions, they’re pulling to­geth­er and call­ing them­selves coali­tions of in­ter­est. But be care­ful, be­cause that coali­tion of in­ter­est does not have your in­ter­est at heart.”

Den­nis asked vot­ers not to gam­ble with To­ba­go’s fu­ture. He re­mind­ed them of the PNM’s track record, list­ing projects such as the new air­port ter­mi­nal, im­proved seabridge ser­vices, and in­fra­struc­ture up­grades across the is­land.

“The jour­ney must con­tin­ue un­der the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment,” he said.

“We still have the new cruise ship ter­mi­nal in Scar­bor­ough, the wa­ter­front com­plex in Scar­bor­ough, the San­dals Re­sort, the Mar­riott Ho­tel, and the ma­ri­na to be con­struct­ed in To­ba­go.”

He fur­ther called on PNM sup­port­ers to cam­paign with con­fi­dence, say­ing vic­to­ry and de­vel­op­ment were cer­tain once they stood unit­ed.

“With God on our side, and once we go out there and sell the best can­di­dates and the best par­ty, on April 28, we will be able to say, ‘Great is the PNM, great is the PNM, great is the God of the PNM, and we shall pre­vail.’”

Con­tact­ed yes­ter­day, po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst Dr Shane Mo­hammed said the bat­tle for To­ba­go’s two seats is a two-way con­test be­tween the PNM and the To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty (TPP) among the five con­tenders.

Mo­hammed said To­ba­go vot­ers must de­cide which par­ty will best rep­re­sent their fu­ture, as on­ly one will win.

He not­ed that the field­ing of can­di­dates from five par­ties for the To­ba­go seats is his­toric, with the PNM, TPP, Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots, In­no­v­a­tive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Al­liance, and the Pa­tri­ot­ic Front all con­test­ing both seats.

One in­de­pen­dent can­di­date has al­so en­tered the race so far, but with just over 50,000 vot­ers, Mo­hammed said the out­come de­pends on which par­ty To­ba­go trusts most.

“Even though there are so many po­lit­i­cal par­ties play­ing a role in the To­ba­go space in 2025, I am not of the opin­ion that they could make an im­pact un­less peo­ple de­cide to vote out­side of the TPP or the PNM, and then it de­pends on where the votes are de­plet­ed—in whose bas­ket are those votes de­plet­ing.”

Mo­hammed said the PNM’s loss in the 2021 THA elec­tion showed To­ba­go’s frus­tra­tion with its gov­er­nance. Since then, ten­sions be­tween the PNM and THA have es­ca­lat­ed. How­ev­er, he be­lieves Wat­son Duke’s PDP cam­paign lacks po­lit­i­cal in­tel­li­gence and that Pan­day and the IDA have yet to present clear plans.

He not­ed that on­ly the PNM and TPP have out­lined a vi­sion for To­ba­go’s fu­ture, mak­ing them the fron­trun­ners in what he pre­dicts will be an “in­ter­est­ing race.”