KEVON FELMINE
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

As she did in 2015, an­i­mal rights ac­tivist Jow­elle De Souza will con­test the San Fer­nan­do West con­stituen­cy in the up­com­ing gen­er­al elec­tions.
De Souza, 45, a Hum­ming­bird Medal re­cip­i­ent, will have to beat the odds by de­feat­ing the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress' Sean Sobers and pos­si­bly, in­cum­bent MP, Faris Al-Rawi. 
Speak­ing to the me­dia fol­low­ing Na­pari­ma Col­lege’s Founder’s Day cel­e­bra­tions yes­ter­day, De Souza said she will be con­test­ing as an in­de­pen­dent can­di­date.
“I am hop­ing that we all work to­geth­er be­cause San Fer­nan­do is in re­al need of help,” De Souza said. 
Al­though she was re­ject­ed in 2015, De Souza said there is a group of politi­cians, in­clud­ing for­mer prime min­is­ter Bas­deo Pan­day and for­mer jus­tice min­is­ter Her­bert Vol­ney, who will be com­ing to­geth­er as in­de­pen­dent can­di­dates to form a “third force”. She said dis­cus­sions are be­ing held with oth­er par­ties, all to cre­ate a bet­ter coun­try.
“I think the coun­try is ab­solute­ly dis­en­chant­ed with both po­lit­i­cal par­ties. San Fer­nan­do, a sec­ond city, has died. The coun­try is cry­ing out for help and we have been sort­ed out and work­ing with men like Mr Pan­day and sev­er­al past peo­ple who have gov­erned Trinidad & To­ba­go. They are the dri­ving force be­hind in­de­pen­dents be­cause we must have change.”
De Souza is al­so a hair­dress­er who op­er­ates the pop­u­lar Hair by Jow­elle stu­dio in San Fer­nan­do.