Foster’s attorney to file action against State on Friday

Senior Political Reporter

Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj will on Friday file an action against the State on behalf of PNM Minister Foster Cummings regarding a leaked TTPS Special Branch note.

Maharaj confirmed this yesterday.

“I have the draft, and I’m finalising it to approve it for filing on Friday,” he said.

The development follows Maharaj’s revelation earlier this month of the move to sue the State concerning the disclosure of the Special Branch note to an opposition senator. The State is represented by the Attorney General’s Office.

The July 2019 note reportedly involved several allegations against Cummings. The UNC senator read it during a May 2022 public meeting, although it was unsubstantiated.

Maharaj, at his media briefing on the matter recently, said action against the State was being sought since the leak had created a grave injustice to Cummings, who is now taking legal action to protect his reputation.

Maharaj cited successful British precedent. He is also of the view that there is a T&T law that is similarly applicable to the issue.

He said if Cummings wins against the State, any damages awarded to him will be used to improve the lives of his constituents in the La Horquetta/Talparo constituency.

Foster working!

Yesterday, PNM officials responded to speculation concerning Cummings’ walkabouts and whether he might be “making a play for the leadership” of the party and why he was “up and down seemingly trying to drum up support.”

PNM officials, puzzled by the speculation, said it was exceedingly strange for anyone to think Cummings was “making a play for the leadership,” since they noted PNM’s structures and constitution and that the length of the leadership’s term has been quite well-known since the last internal elections when the post was contested.

Cummings did not answer calls and text queries yesterday.

PNM La Horquetta-Talparo constituency executive chairman Alderman Leon Roach said, “There’s no vacancy in the PNM for a leader, as everyone knows. The walkabouts our MP has been on are part of his outreach, and it isn’t the first time he’s doing this. It’s known that he’s been doing walkabouts periodically over the last four years since the constituency is so large—La Horquetta alone has 20,000-plus residents.”

“Our MP, who’s very much loved, has ensured that he doesn’t depend on office visits alone to hear people’s needs. He goes to them,” Roach added.

“The area is so huge, we do districts in turn. As soon as we get the information, we seek to action it as soon as possible. You all should really do a poll of the best performing ministers, and the 20,000-plus La Horquetta-Talparo constituents will know who’ll win.”

On exploring if PNM Leader Dr Keith Rowley “is the clear party leader going into 2025” or “if we could see a change of leadership,” PNM party officials again cited party regulations. “Which answers your question. Plus, we just retook the Lengua seat—big time,” they added.

PNM win shows UNC is still unattractive—Vasant

Ex-UNC Minister Vasant Bharath says the results in Monday’s Lengua Indian-Walk by-election, where PNM won with 1,986 votes over the UNC’s 1,394, “further reinforces my view that UNC is no longer an attractive political proposition to the national population. Nothing’s changed. Indeed, it’s deteriorated since 2013, when the party was humiliated 12-0 in Tobago.”

Bharath opined, “The UNC wasted the last nine years in opposition and failed to grow its base and attract new members and voters. Their ‘landslide’ win in last Saturday’s national executive election represents a voter turnout of just over 11 per cent of the total membership, reinforcing the lack of interest in the party.

“In fact, by their actions/behaviour in and out of Parliament, they’ve turned away many ‘fence voters’. They long turned their backs on the east-west Corridor and now have to rely on last-minute, stitched-together marriages of convenience. Their warped strategy that critics must be painted as PNM agents and citizens will hold their noses and vote for the lesser of the two evils is doomed to fail as it has every campaign since 2013.”