For­mer Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) MP for Tabaquite Ani­ta Haynes Al­leyne has ex­plained why she chose to ap­pear at to­day’s Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) ral­ly at Ed­die Hart Grounds, say­ing she re­mained com­mit­ted to “na­tion-build­ing pol­i­tics char­ac­terised by in­clu­sion and co-op­er­a­tion.”

Haynes Al­leyne, who was no­tably left off the UNC’s list of can­di­dates for the up­com­ing gen­er­al elec­tion, said al­though she par­tic­i­pat­ed in the par­ty’s in­ter­nal screen­ing process, it be­came “abun­dant­ly clear that dis­sent is not on­ly un­wel­come — it is pun­ished.”

Haynes- Al­leyne was part of the slate that chal­lenged Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar’s slate in the in­ter­nal na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive elec­tion.