Revolt against Douglas; COP Constituency executive members quit, plan to join UNC

Rawle Raphael

Rawle Raphael told reporters Wednesday he has resigned as chairman of the Lopinot/Bon Air West constituency executive of the Congress of the People (COP). Raphael said other members of the executive have also resigned. He said the full team plans to join the United National Congress (UNC).

Raphael said the eight COP members took the action because they are not pleased with the representation by their MP, Lincoln Douglas, who is the Minister of State in the Ministry of the People and Social Development.

Lincoln Douglas, MP

Douglas is also one of the deputy political leaders of the COP.

The executive has been trying to get Douglas recalled as MP but the the party’s national executive did not approve of the move.

Raphael said an executive meeting on Tuesday ended ended inconclusively. "The COP executive took a decision to remove ourselves from the Congress of the People and join the United National Congress (UNC), he said.

He stated that it is important for the People’s Partnership to stay together in the interest of the country. However he knocked Douglas for failing to adequately represent the people who put him in Parliament.

The chairman of COP, Joseph Toney, told the Guardian newspaper he did not wish to make any statement on the matter. “I will want to see their resignations before I make a further comment,” he told the paper.