Akash Sama­roo

The Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment’s (PNM) Na­tion­al Women’s League has come out strong­ly in de­fence of Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les, in­sist­ing she will de­cide the fu­ture of Sen­a­tor Janelle John-Bates “in due course,” while ac­cus­ing the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) of hypocrisy and po­lit­i­cal dis­trac­tion.

John-Bates re­turned to the Up­per House yes­ter­day af­ter a short leave of ab­sence due to ill­ness. How­ev­er, her fate is still un­known, de­spite of­fer­ing her res­ig­na­tion to Beck­les on May 1 over al­le­ga­tions tied to her con­duct on the Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion and Ap­pro­pri­a­tions Com­mit­tee (PAAC).