For the first time since its formation in 1969, a member of the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) was set to be a member of Parliament.
According to a well-placed source, NJAC deputy political leader, Embau Moheni, was among the People's Partnership's 16 senators for Trinidad and Tobago's tenth Parliament. NJAC Chief Servant and political leader, Makandal Daaga, yesterday declined to comment on Moheni's appointment to the Senate. Daaga said that it would be inappropriate to offer comment on senatorial appointments that NJAC members were tipped to assume.
NJAC was one of five political parties that united to form the People's Partnership in last month's general election. Although the People's Partnership won the election, no NJAC candidate was successful in securing a seat in the House of Representatives. Daaga was made a Cultural Ambassador Extraordinaire to the Caribbean Community (Caricom). The Trinidad Guardian was informed that Moheni would be the lone NJAC member to be offered a senatorial appointment.
According to the official NJAC Web site, Moheni served as NJAC's political head in Tobago and chairman of the Tobago Cultural Committee. His involvement in NJAC dates back to 1970 and his participation in NJAC's fights resulted in him being arrested at the age eighteen. Moheni opted to remain in prison rather than accept bail from his father on his father's condition that he should leave NJAC. Moheni has served as the principal of Tobago's Elizabeth's College since 1993.
As NJAC's head of the Tobago Cultural Committee, Moheni was also involved in the organising annual Emancipation rallies and lectures in Tobago since 1985. Among his other involvements included the production of the Tobago Young Kings Calypso Monarch competition and the various Tobago junior calypso competitions since 1990.
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?Other members of the People's Partnership's senatorial team include:
�2 Attorney General–Anand Ramlogan;
�2 National Security Minister–John Sandy;
�2 Public Administration Minister–Rudrawattie Ramgoolam;
�2 Science, Technology and Tertiary Education Minister–Fazal Karim;
�2 Health Minister–Therese Baptiste-Cornelis;
�2 Public Utilities Minister–Emmanuel George;
�2 Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs Minister–Vasant Bharath;
�2 Planning, Economic and Social Re-Structuring, and Gender Affairs Minister Mary King; and
�2 Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs, Kevin Ramnarine.