A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) candidate, Aubrey Norton on Tuesday blamed a small unnamed clique of Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) members for undermining and ostracising him from the centre of that party’s leadership.
His comments came against the background that Medical Doctor Karen Cummings was being considered to replace ailing Debra Backer who is expected to resign as an APNU parliamentarian. Backer, APNU’s Shadow Minister on Foreign Affairs, is expected to remain in Trinidad until April which means that if she is not replaced the combined opposition would be without the crucial one-seat majority to disapprove sections or all of the 2014 National Budget.
While many inside and outside the PNCR and APNU believe that Norton is the best person to fill the void because of his political experience as well as expertise in International Relations, he said has not been approached about his availability and so he was not expected to be called.
“When it comes to my ability, I have no doubt about that but I always knew that the present political dispensation will always generate those kinds of problems so I don’t think I will feel any different. I fact, I would have been surprised if I was the person identified,” he told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com).
excerpts