Diego Martin Central MP Dr Amery Browne will not be making a second appearance before the screening committee of the People’s National Movement (PNM) later this month.
The party’s general secretary Ashton Ford said yesterday that only new nominees will be interviewed in the second round of screenings for the constituency.
Browne, who did not get the approval of the screening committee last week, had reportedly been gearing up for another attempt to be selected as the opposition party’s candidate for the constituency he has represented since 2007.
He was part of a ten-hour marathon screening session at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain, which started around 5 pm last Wednesday and ended after 3 am on Holy Thursday. Candidates for seven constituencies were interviewed by the committee, which was chaired by PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley.
Browne, who was reportedly nominated by ten party groups, including the youth league, was screened along with Darryl Smith, a councillor in the Diego Martin Regional Corporation. However, the incumbent MP did not receive a single vote from any of the 18 members of the Diego Martin Central constituency executive and Smith got only two votes.
The Diego Martin Central and Barataria/San Juan constituency executives have been given until April 13 to find new nominees.
Browne’s supporters have taken to social media to express their displeasure at his rejection by the screening committee and an online petition is being circulated.
A medical doctor and former technical director at the now defunct Secretariat of the National HIV/Aids Co-ordinating Committee, Browne was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2007 and served as Minister of Social Development in the Patrick Manning administration that held office until May 2010.
Browne was unavailable for comment when the T&T Guardian attempted to contact him yesterday. However, in an interview last month when reports first surfaced that he might be rejected by the party’s screening committee, he spoke about “a minuscule internal cabal who call themselves PNM but whose aim is really to own and totally control elected officials.”
He said then: “My record of service is clear and well known.”
The PNM has already selected 39 of its 41 candidates for the general election which is due by September. (See list above)
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has already told her party’s campaign team that it should be ready at short notice for the polls. The People’s Partnership is expected to select candidates within a two-week period, a party source said.