PANIC is said to be taking over the People’s National Movement (PNM) in Mayaro!

Reports reaching TnT Mirror are that there is mounting concern among party faithful as to whether or not the party could retain the marginal seat in the general election due in 2007, but which could be called sooner.

Sources told Mirror that the dilemma in which popular MP Franklin Khan, former Works Minister and party chairman, recently found himself has thrown the constituency into a state of chaos and panic.

Khan is now before the courts facing charges of corruption.

Councillor Dansam Dhansook, fellow PNMite and councillor in the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation (RMRC), made allegations of impropriety against the ever-smiling politician.

“If we are to win this seat again, we must start to work now.

“There is plenty, plenty ground still to cover at this time if we are to pull it off,” stated a worried-looking and sounding high-profile PNM Mayaro constituency official.

FRANKLIN
KHAN

AMANDA
ROBINSON

“Quietly, we are still reeling from the blow dealt to us by the Dhansook/Khan scandal.

“Let nobody say differently; it has hurt the party and more so we here in Mayaro.”

Mirror was told that Khan himself has become withdrawn since the charges were laid against him.

According to reports, he has not been seen since last October in his beloved hometown of Mayaro.

“We believe he’s embarrassed…” the official added.

Sources disclosed that Khan no longer pays his weekly visits to the bars and market in the area or just walk the streets, as he was accustomed to doing in the past, to interact with his people.

“Is what we often looked forward to; as grassroots people we felt he cared for us,” the die-hard PNMite continued.

“Imagine, Frankie was a man who spent Christmas here with us every year.

“Every Boxing Day he opened his home to his constituents, but it didn’t happen this year; he was nowhere around.”

To add more to their present woes is the fact that like other constituencies, the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has changed the boundaries in Ortoire/Mayaro.

The constituency now includes parts of Biche, Navet, Charuma and Cushe.

“In Mayaro and in Moruga, Frankie was loved; there might have been little pockets of discontent here and there, as is always expected, but PNM was very much alive and our chances still looked good, until this bacchanal happened.”

Shaking his head, he cussed Dhansook.

“… Anyway, the less said of him, the better it will be,” he said.

“Some of us never trusted him and never even voted for him in the local election.”

However, Mirror was told that there is also the fear on the ground in Mayaro that Councillor Dhansook, who is yet to resign his office, may still feature prominently in the upcoming general election.

“He still has the financial resources to influence voters,” the source added.

But constituents slammed Khan, saying that he failed to capitalise on the natural love people had for him.

“Too much happened too fast in his political life and we could chronicle events now as ‘the rise and fall of Frankie Khan’,” the source continued.

“He was the PNM’s blue-eyed boy who let down the party.”

The PNMite further stated: “Khan accepted a ministerial portfolio, then he took chairmanship of the party and that began to affect us.

“He no longer wanted to hear complaints about drains, and about who had died so he could attend the wake; smaller problems he left that to his assistant, Councillor Matthew Pierre.”

But he said that because of the culture of the PNM, the faithful continued to give him all their support whenever he showed up.

He added: “We initially felt good when we saw him putting up his house on Mischier Avenue here in Mayaro; we felt he would stay home to serve the people better.

“But then we suddenly noticed that he began moving away from us.

“He hardly ever came to meetings again, as he did in the past.

“We wondered, then we understood why: he had moved out of Mayaro and into the big-shot area of Moka.

“That was when his first fall came, which was just about one year after getting into office.”

The PNM official continued: “Then came the rumours of his involvement in an alleged corruption scandal.

“We didn’t even know charges were laid against him, as he never told us anything.

“And that’s why the public would not have seen us at the court on the first occasion after he was arrested and charged.”

But he said the constituents were deeply affected when they organised a support rally for Khan on the Mayaro grounds and he did not show, soon after the corruption allegations became public.

“Imagine, we organised something for you and you refused to come,” he slammed.

“That was an insult.”

Mirror was told that organisers received a late message saying that Khan was ill.

“Yet, 24 hours later you are chairing a General Council meeting at Balisier House,” he hit out.

However, he said the constituents later put that behind them and still organised a support team when the matter came up for hearing in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court.

But they are still blaming Khan for the “bad position” where PNM is today in the vibrant community of Mayaro.

“We could lose it; we worked very hard to bring home this seat and look what has happened to us now,” he ended.

Mirror visited Khan’s constituency office where we met secretary Amanda Robinson.

She told Mirror she has been working at the office for the past four years.

“People are still coming here despite what happened,” she said.

Robinson told Mirror that the constituency is organising itself.

“We had a meeting last night,” she added.

“Gypsy in Mayaro and Moruga still attending wakes and funerals, weddings and sporting events; anything they inviting him to, as if he’s still the representative

“We not seeing Frankie doing that, Councillor Matthew Pierre is his stand-in man for everything.

“Look how Gypsy and Dookeran (Winston) was in the Coconut Run the other day.”

Khan narrowly beat Gypsy in the hard fought 2002 general election.

The residents noted that although the popular calypsonian lost the seat, he never removed himself from the constituency.

“So if an election is called in the morning he will be ready and UNC will have no other choice but to nominate him as the candidate for the constituency,” the villager added.
Reports are that there is no other UNC activist “working” the area at this time.

“That’s why we feel Gypsy is the man,” he continued. “PNM have to come real good to beat him this time.”