In February former national footballer Brent Sancho replaced Dr Rupert Griffith as sport minister.
Now Sancho’s supporters are urging Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to also have him replace Griffith as the candidate to contest the Toco/Sangre Grande seat in the September 7 general election.
Outside the Rienzi Complex headquarters of the United National Congress (UNC), Couva, on Monday night, a throng of Sancho supporters lifted him in the air, shouting at the top of their voices, “We want Sancho, we want Sancho. Give we, Sancho, give we Sancho.”
The men and women dressed in grey T-Shirts with the words ‘Delivery beats ole talk anyday’ on the front and “Sancho, we deliver, we deliver’ on the back, kept up a lively chant as Sancho mingled inside the building with the PM and other cabinet colleagues after the Monday Night Forum at the party headquarters.
As he emerged from the building around 11 pm, the group surged forward and two men lifted him in the air, in sportsman-like fashion, carrying him for a short distance.
“We love him. We love him,” a jubilant woman shouted identifying herself as a Toco/Sangre Grande constituent. She let out a resounding, “Nooooo,” when asked about Griffith returning as their candidate.
“We don’t want Griffith (the incumbent). We had him for five years and he do nothing. This man (Sancho) now come and in a couple of months this man doing a good job. So we done know what going to happen in five years to come,” one of the men holding him up in the air said.
“Brent is the man. Brent is the man,” another shouted.
In response, Sancho, who represented T&T at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, would only say, “This is the voice of the people.”
Asked if he had filed nomination papers to contest the seat for the UNC, Sancho replied, “That will be disclosed soon.”
Last month, Griffith’s former chauffeur, David John, collected a nomination form and indicated his intention to wrest the seat from his former boss on a UNC ticket.
At that point Griffith told the media all seats were opened and he had no problem with anyone contesting the seat as it was their democratic right so to do.
Although a political newbie, Sancho has been featured prominently as one of the UNC platform speakers. He was on the platform on Monday night as the party kicked off its campaign, telling the audience about plans for sports should the Government get the opportunity to serve a second term.
He said the PP was the only Government that treated sports with respect.