Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
With election campaigning intensifying ahead of next month’s general election, controversy has erupted over former People’s National Movement (PNM) member Wendy Lewis, who claims she served as former prime minister Patrick Manning’s personal protocol officer.
Lewis, now campaign manager for United National Congress (UNC) candidate for San Fernando East, John Michael “Makamillion” Alibocus, has a long history in politics.
She said she previously served as a PNM area manager for Mon Repos, St Joseph campaign PRO, Fyzabad campaigner in 2015, and election and education officer. During a walkabout in Mon Repos on Friday, she explained her decision to switch parties, citing years of victimisation.
“My allegiance to the PNM ended after Manning’s passing. I had to make a decision on moral and ethical grounds,” Lewis said. “I have known Alibocus for over two decades and believe in putting people first.”
Describing her relationship with Alibocus, she said, “He is my friend forever and a day, and he wants to represent the people. I know this constituency inside out. Politics is about people, and if I see that they are not being represented, I have to make a decision based on people.”
Lewis contrasted the current state of the country with Manning’s tenure, describing the difference as “chalk and cheese.” Defending her decision, she dismissed criticism that she was a traitor.
“If you are sitting at a table and are no longer being fed, your conscience should tell you when to walk away,” she remarked.
She insisted she was never a sycophant and was driven solely by the need for effective representation. “The same issues that concerned Mon Repos when I was area manager still exist today.”
However, her claim of being Manning’s personal protocol officer has drawn sharp rebuttals from the late prime minister’s family. Manning’s wife, Hazel, and son, Brian, have categorically denied her assertion. While Lewis has previously been quoted in the media as a spokesperson for Manning—particularly after his stroke in 2012—the family insists she had no official role.
Brian Manning, MP for San Fernando East, told the Sunday Guardian that Lewis briefly served as a PNM area manager in Mon Repos before being removed, but was never a representative of the Manning family.
“She has never been a representative of our family or a protocol officer for my father,” he said.
“I don’t even know what that term means within San Fernando East. For years, she has tried to attach herself to our family, but we have resisted her at every turn. Wendy Lewis has never represented us. Just because I decide to call myself the Pope does not make it so, and she has been calling herself all sorts of things for quite some time.”
Addressing Lewis’ previous statements about Manning’s health, Brian added, “My father was ill at the time, and certain people decided to take liberties.”
Despite the dispute, Brian acknowledged that Lewis was free to support any political party.
Meanwhile, Hazel Manning took to social media to “set the record straight.”
“The post or position of ‘personal protocol officer’ under my late husband, Patrick Manning, simply did not exist. It never has and never did. To say otherwise, or to claim to have represented, advised, spoken for, or worked with my family, is simply false,” she wrote.
She clarified that Lewis had attended a short course where she came into contact with her firm but was never retained by herself, her late husband, or their sons.
Describing the claims as a misrepresentation of history, Mrs Manning urged Lewis to cease making such statements.
