Member of Parliament for Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West Patricia McIntosh’s refusal to return to politics or recontest her seat has now affected the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) Point Fortin screening process.
The T&T Guardian understands that members of that constituency office have complained to Balisier House that McIntosh’s not contesting the seat has now prompted fresh screening on Wednesday and forced the shelving of screening for Point Fortin, originally scheduled for this weekend, indefinitely. Nomination screening for the Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s East seat started yesterday and closes on Monday, with screening before the executive set for next Wednesday.
Members said yesterday that McIntosh had vacillated in her decision two weeks ago, then formally decided not to contest the seat, but this had now put the screening into a tailspin. “It is a massive blow,” a member of the PNM, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday. While members within the constituency office confirmed those reports, McIntosh said yesterday she was unaware that her refusal to recontest had triggered any negative fallout.
“I have had nor heard any negative feedback,” McIntosh said in a telephone interview. She also denied she had changed her mind on the decision to leave politics at any time. “I am out, I have not reconsidered. I am still a member of the PNM and I will work behind the scenes, but I am done with the frontline,” she said. McIntosh said there was no reason for the sudden shift, but noted she had merely come to an age where she wanted to devote more time to her God and her family.
“Nothing triggered it, I am simply not a politician,” she said. She said she never wanted to get into politics but was coerced by the people of her constituency whom she loved. “And that is still where I find the most joy. But politics is not the environment for me,” she said. She said she wrote to both her party leader Dr Keith Rowley and general secretary Ashton Ford on August 27 about her decision and had met with only positive feedback since then.