UNC Chaguanas West candidate Khadijah Ameen says she was married for five years and subsequently divorced, but never changed her name from Ameen on her ID card. Ameen was explaining her opponent Jack Warner’s claim that her name was really Rostant. Ameen, dismissing what the UNC has described as Warner’s latest “spin,” said she was married to one Nigel Rostant several years ago, but never really adopted the name, since the marriage expired before her ID card did.
“I was born Khadijah Ameen, and that I remain. It’s my name. So Mr Warner’s latest grab for headlines is a mere non-issue,” she said. Commenting on Warner’s accusations about pipelines being laid down in an area where he had a meeting, Ameen said that WASA project wasn’t the only one occurring at this time. She said the projects were requested by the residents and were being instituted after Warner quit as MP, and the programmes were approved and ongoing long before he announced his meeting.
She said, “The contractors were advised to exercise the least possible inconvenience to residents and they completed their project and closed the trench. The road is now passable. There are also other roads which can be used to access Mr Warner’s meeting. “The most unfortunate thing is, goods and services are being given to the people and Mr Warner who says he’s ‘for the people,’ is taking issue with that.”
Ameen said she never sought to make an issue out of the fact that Warner’s ILP used the Frederick Settlement Recreation Ground for a meeting without seeking permission from the Piarco Regional Corporation, under which that sector falls. She said she instead called a member of his team and advised them a football tournament was set for the grounds after the ILP meeting and whatever work the ILP could not facilitate to return the ground to condition for the football match, the corporation would complete.
“I would never stop a party using a venue for a meeting,” she said. Hitting Warner’s “campaign of deception,” Ameen said, “Mr Warner hasn’t talked issues. He’s made people feel the services he’s provided and will provide are his personal favours to them and isn’t making it clear to people that it’s government services he gave them as MP.
“In the pockets of the constituency which have been serviced by him, people are being led to believe they have been helped by him personally, and they haven’t been told how the situation really works. He has campaigned on the claim that he’s been Chaguanas West’s personal godfather and he has exploited the opportunity of being given the UNC’s strongest seat in 2007 to contest. He has also exploited the people of the area by going up against the party that gave him the seat to care for the people in Chaguanas West genuinely.”