Former Congress of the People (COP) political leader Winston Dookeran is supporting Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan’s bid for the leadership of the party. But rival candidate Nicole Dyer-Griffith’s camp can’t confirm claims that Dyer-Griffith has the support of former PP Sports Minister Anil Roberts.
Seepersad-Bachan and Griffith’s campaign manager, Gary Griffith, spoke on the respective issues yesterday as their camps denounced “mud-slinging” in the COP’s July 9 leadership poll.
Seepersad-Bachan, Dyer-Griffith and Sharon Gopaul-McNichol are contesting the election.
Seepersad-Bachan said she had spoken to Dookeran about her bid “and he’s very happy that I’m contesting. I was urged to contest by many. I was surprised at the number of foundation members who supported it.”
Dookeran had endorsed her first bid for the position in 2014 when she lost to then incumbent Prakash Ramadhar.
“There was a lot of mud-slinging in that (2014) election also and I denounced it,” she said yesterday
“For this election I made it clear at our candidates’ meeting last Monday that we should not go down that road and I wouldn’t be involved in mud slinging since we need to adhere to standards that would us all rebuild the COP after July 9.”
Dyer-Griffith’s husband Gary, commenting on claims that former minister Roberts is supporting her candidacy, said:”As a COP member Mr Roberts is free to support whoever he prefers but we have no idea who he’s supporting, as neither Nicole nor myself have seen or spoken to him in three years.”
On “mud slinging,” Griffith added: “Unfortunately, one of the three candidates has turned to playing a game of trying to undermine and discredit her opponents and the party. It’s hoped this COP election wouldn’t go into the gutter as we’ve seen with previous internal elections with other parties.
“Based on a directive by our candidate, there would be no comment directed at undermining or disrespecting any of her fellow candidates. She’s stated she has the world of respect for both individuals and looks forward to working with them after the election.”
Griffith, responding to questions from COP’s Wendell Eversly on whether Dyer-Griffith is eligible to participate in the election, said: “She was no longer a member of the AOI since late 2016.”
