New Chaguanas mayor is not a UNC member: Mark

When Natasha Navas, 30, took the oath of office Thursday to become the new mayor of Chaguanas she declared that she had come from a United National Congress (UNC) family and that she is loyal to the party.

Related: Madame mayor: Who is she?

But UNC Deputy leader Wade Mark is saying that Navas is not a member of the party.

Mark said he has checked "the 35,000 names on the party’s membership list" and concluded that “That lady does not come from our party; so she is not a member of the UNC. She is a complete stranger.”

Mark told the Trinidad Guardian he assumes that “Navas is a PNM, COP, or just a pick-up person.”

He said it would be difficult for the party to support her as the party is moving to expel the party member who engineering Navas' rise to office, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner, who is also one of the three UNC deputy leaders.

Mark also took issue with the mayor's age and lack of political experience saying, "Only time will tell if she can handle the job.”

The party is preparing a dossier on Navas in an effort to embarrass or topple her. It has argued that she doesn't live at Nolan Street in Felicity as she claims and that means she fails the residency requirement.

Related: Nagassar calls new mayor Warner's puppet

But people on the street deny that, including her common-law husband's mother, who mother told media last week that Navas has lived at that address for two years. According to electoral records Navas is not registered to vote in Chaguanas.

Warner is wondering what all the fuss is about. He expects that the UNC would go after Navas, trying to dig dirt about her past. “I can only tell you what I know. She has a couple of children...Is that a bad thing?” Warner asked the paper.

Warner is expecting the UNC to spread rumours about Navas, “but that is alright. All in all, this country has to change.”

While Mark is complaining about Navas not being a UNC member and therefore ethically should not be mayor, he has not commented on the UNC's practice of appointing non-members to Parliament.

Several senators appointed to the Senate by the UNC in the past have been members of other parties. When Ato Bolden became an opposition senator he made it clear that he was not a UNC member and even made several controversial statements that conflicted with the UNC's policies.

Opposition leader Basdeo Panday appointed Dr Carson Charles to the senate following the 2007 general election although Charles was the leader of the National Alliance for Reconstruction. He later fired Charles and appointed a former deputy leader of the Congress of the People (COP) to the replace him.

Panday said the objective behind the appointment of Dr Sharon Gopaul McNichol was his continuing commitment to opposition unity.

Read the story: Panday fires Carson Charles...

A source close to Warner said the attack on Navas as a non-UNC member is hypocritcal since the party has a history of appointing non-members to high positions.