A NEW People’s National Movement (PNM) constituency executive was elected in St. Joseph on Tuesday night at the Mt. Hope Community Centre, ending four years of acrimony and strife within the constituency.

The St. Joseph constituency had been plagued with conflict following the defeat of PNM candidate Sharon Gopaul-McNicoll in the 2002 general election.

The marginal seat was won by Gerard Yetming for the United National Congress (UNC).

The feud within the PNM constituency executive resulted with the PNM’s general council taking the decision this year to disband the executive and to mandate honorary MP Gopaul-McNicoll to report to the Port of Spain North/St. Ann’s West constituency.

But, finally, the ugly conflict has been buried with the election of a new 10-official executive and a 10-member committee, with Glen Lezama as chairman, Hazel Burke as vice-chairman and Veronica Dalzin as secretary.

GERARD
YETMING

SHARON
GOPAUL-
McNICOLL
... strife
and confusion.

According to a senior party source, Gopaul-McNicoll did not demonstrate the type of leadership to bring the divided forced together and her experience and expertise will be used within the new Port of Spain North/St. Ann’s West seat.

“We have been having a lot of problems in St. Joseph and the constituency executive split soon after the 2002 general election,” the insider revealed.

“Sharon lost to Gerard Yetming in the 2002 elections and the PNM instituted a policy of having Honorary MPs for all the constituencies won by the UNC.

“So, Sharon was able to entrench herself as this Honorary MP.

“But when the St. Joseph executive split down the middle, Sharon was unable to heal the wounds and the rift grew wider.

“She (Gopaul-McNicoll) did not demonstrate the kind of leadership to bring the warring factions together. It is alleged she took one side and that created more problems within the executive.

“It was really personality issues at the core of the conflict and it should have been addressed early, but for whatever reason, the two sides were given an opportunity to put their house in order.

“Despite several attempts to solve the problem, the hostility continued until the party finally took the decision this year to disband the executive and instructed Sharon to report to the Port of Spain and St. Ann’s West constituency.”

Since the problem surfaced in St. Joseph, the PNM also took the decision to rescind the policy of having honorary MPs in opposition constituencies.

According to the PNM informant, Gopaul-McNicoll was able to use her influence to develop a strong support base within the constituency.

But the PNM also realised that the Honorary MPs would be difficult to remove once they had established a foothold within the constituency.

“In the case of St. Joseph and all other constituencies for that matter, the party (PNM) must retain control of the constituency because the party should retain the right to select candidates for all its constituencies,” the insider revealed.

“The PNM would like to have all options open in the selection of a candidate for St. Joseph because that is one of the critical seats in the next general election.

“It is manifestly important that the PNM regain the St. Joseph constituency and to do that the best candidate available should be able to contest the seat.”

Culture Minister, Senator Joan Yuille-Wlliams attended the constituency elections and addressed the gathering briefly, urging the members to rally together to win the seat for the PNM in the next general elections.

The constituency election process went smoothly, but sources reported that there was an attempt to derail the election as someone was calling members and informing them that the elections had been postponed.