For­mer na­tion­al foot­baller, David Nakhid, has been cho­sen by the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) as the par­ty’s can­di­date to con­test the Tu­na­puna seat, in the up­com­ing Gen­er­al Elec­tions, sched­uled to take place be­fore year’s end.

Con­fir­ma­tion came in an of­fi­cial state­ment is­sued by the par­ty on Sun­day.

The UNC is ex­pect­ed to con­tin­ue screen­ing for ad­di­tion­al can­di­dates over the next week.

The full text of the UNC state­ment fol­lows…

NA­TION­AL SPORTS STAR DAVID NAKHID CHO­SEN AS UNC CAN­DI­DATE FOR TU­NA­PUNA

The Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress Screen­ing Com­mit­tee has cho­sen for­mer Na­tion­al Foot­baller and In­ter­na­tion­al play­er Mr David Mar­tin Nakhid as the can­di­date for the Tu­na­puna con­stituen­cy in the 2020 Gen­er­al Elec­tions.

Mr Nakhid has long been a staunch sup­port­er of the UNC and an avid be­liev­er in the lead­er­ship of Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar. The UNC will con­tin­ue to choose the best can­di­dates who will work in the in­ter­est of the peo­ple. Our par­ty be­lieves in con­ti­nu­ity and the in­clu­sion of new faces who have the best in­ter­est of our na­tion at heart. Mr Nakhid has proven him­self a per­son of high in­tegri­ty, fierce pa­tri­o­tism and a deep de­sire to con­tribute to­wards the de­vel­op­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The peo­ple of Tu­na­puna and the na­tion are no stranger to David as he has been ac­tive in In­ter­na­tion­al Foot­ball from the ear­ly 1980’s, and at present as he runs the David Nakhid In­ter­na­tion­al Acad­e­my. Pre­vi­ous­ly he served as the Chief Scout and As­sis­tant Coach for the Trinidad and To­ba­go Na­tion­al World Cup Team.

He holds a de­gree in In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions and Eco­nom­ics.

As the can­di­date for Tu­nan­puna and the even­tu­al Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, David is com­mit­ted to rep­re­sent­ing the for­got­ten man as the peo­ple have been with­out prop­er rep­re­sen­ta­tion un­der the Kei­th Row­ley ad­min­is­tra­tion. The young peo­ple es­pe­cial­ly re­main close to David’s heart as he has seen so many tal­ent­ed youths led astray by the lack of op­por­tu­ni­ty and dim fu­ture un­der this present ad­min­is­tra­tion.

David has ex­pressed his full con­fi­dence in the plans and poli­cies of the UNC in tak­ing this na­tion for­ward and trans­form­ing it in­to a first world na­tion. He has al­so ex­pressed his trust and faith in the lead­er­ship of the Po­lit­i­cal Leader Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar as she alone has the will to en­able this change so des­per­ate­ly need­ed to res­cue our na­tion from the dan­ger­ous in­com­pe­tent Row­ley regime.

Screen­ing con­tin­ues next week as the UNC con­tin­ues to build a team to take Trinidad and To­ba­go for­ward.

Can­di­date In­fo: David Mar­tin Nakhid – Tu­na­puna

Mr David Mar­tin Nakhid, a name fa­mil­iar to every­one in Trinidad and To­ba­go has al­ways been a man proud of his roots in Trinidad and To­ba­go. In his rise to In­ter­na­tion­al Foot­ball star­dom, David re­mained true to the peo­ple of this great na­tion.

Be­ing born in Port of Spain in 1964, David be­ing a tal­ent­ed and gift­ed foot­baller at­tend­ed the Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ty where he ob­tained a BA in In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions. Af­ter­wards he went on to place T&T on the In­ter­na­tion­al map by star­ring as a pro­fes­sion­al foot­baller across the world. Af­ter David Nakhid played as a pro­fes­sion­al in Bel­gium, Switzer­land, Greece, Lebanon, Trinidad and To­ba­go, the Unit­ed States, Swe­den, and the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates where he ex­celled as a son of T&T.

A hum­ble fam­i­ly man, David is a fa­ther of three and has al­ways yearned to con­tribute in an­oth­er mean­ing­ful way to the de­vel­op­ment of his home­land. Be­ing blessed with the op­por­tu­ni­ties that came with be­ing an in­ter­na­tion­al foot­baller he has ob­tained a vast amount of skills through­out his ca­reer from be­ing a FI­FA pres­i­den­tial can­di­date to de­bat­ing in Eu­rope against the likes of FI­FA Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Jerome Cham­pagne.

Want­i­ng the chil­dren of Trinidad and To­ba­go to grow up in a safe na­tion filled with op­por­tu­ni­ties, Nakhid has de­cid­ed to en­ter pol­i­tics as the rep­re­sen­ta­tive for Tu­na­puna. He was drawn to Tu­na­puna be­cause of the im­mense po­ten­tial of the young peo­ple as well as the wealth of ex­pe­ri­ence among the el­ders. He sees his role as work­ing to bring the com­mu­ni­ty to­geth­er and us­ing his in­ter­na­tion­al ex­pe­ri­ence to trans­form the con­stituen­cy. He has al­ways held true to the be­lief that the na­tion has the best chance of mov­ing for­ward un­der the UNC and with Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar’s lead­er­ship style of in­clu­sion, he has been en­cour­aged to serve.

As a fa­ther, David wants all chil­dren to have the best pos­si­ble life in Trinidad and To­ba­go and he is con­fi­dent that the UNC will pro­vide that fu­ture.