While her name is be­ing put for­ward as a pos­si­ble can­di­date, new­ly ap­point­ed Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) To­ba­go Coun­cil leader Sham­fa Cud­joe-Lewis says she has no in­ter­est in a sen­a­to­r­i­al po­si­tion at this time.

Her com­ment comes as she and the PNM deputy leader are be­ing seen as a pos­si­ble re­place­ment for em­bat­tled Sen­a­tor Janelle John-Bates, who has of­fered her res­ig­na­tion to Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les in the wake of the Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion and Ap­pro­pri­a­tions Com­mit­tee (PAAC) fi­as­co.

Con­tact­ed yes­ter­day, Cud­joe-Lewis said, “I want to make it pel­lu­cid­ly clear that I have ab­solute­ly no in­ter­est what­so­ev­er in serv­ing as a sen­a­tor at this time. My fo­cus is whol­ly and sole­ly on my new role as po­lit­i­cal leader of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment To­ba­go Coun­cil, where I now ded­i­cate my time and ef­fort to work­ing in the trench­es with my peo­ple across To­ba­go, re­build­ing our par­ty, strength­en­ing our move­ment, and be­ing a voice for the voice­less and a force for good.