U.D.P’s Dr. Nelma Mortis Suspends Campaign in Caribbean Shores

She was the U.D.P.’s mayoral candidate for the March sixth municipal elections, with Moses ‘Shyne’ Barrow as the undisputed leader at the time. But what a difference eight months can make! Now, there’s confusion over who the real U.D.P. leader is—Barrow or Albert Area Representative Tracy Taegar-Panton. The big question is, who will be the standard bearers in the next general elections? Each leader wants their own executive and their own set of candidates to go up against the P.U.P.’s thirty-one. It’s been a week since Panton took over the party’s headquarters, along with the radio station and newspaper at the Youth for the Future Drive location. Today, News Five’s Marion Ali sat down with Doctor Nelma Mortis, the U.D.P.’s former mayoral candidate, who candidly shared that she has suspended her campaign as the Caribbean Shores Standard Bearer under the ‘Shyne’ Barrow banner until a court decides who the true U.D.P. leader is.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

Many of you will recall Dr. Nelma Mortis, the UDP mayoral candidate from the March elections. She was appointed as the party’s standard bearer for Caribbean Shores in August, under the leadership of Moses ‘Shyne’ Barrow. However, a lot has changed since then. Now, Mortis has announced that she is suspending her campaign until there is a clear decision on who is the true UDP leader.

 

Dr. Nelma Mortis, U.D.P. Standard Bearer, Caribbean Shores

“People are asking what is happening. People that you don’t even know that they know you. What is happening with the party? Where are we going? I mean, it has affected all of us. I got endorsed the same day, boots Martinez got endorsed.”

 

Marion Ali

“So you’re still campaigning?”

 

Dr. Nelma Mortis

“I suspended until the clouds are clear.”

 

Mortis has two relatives, including a nephew, Ian Jones, who were at one point close to Collet Area Representative, Patrick Faber. They supported Barrow when he became leader and continue to support him. While the chaos has been embarrassing to the U.D.P., Mortis believes that it is something good for the party and all the disputing factions need to do is to take transformative actions to realign with the party’s ideologies.

 

Dr. Nelma Mortis

“That internal force that is causing all this chaos and confusion is not something bad at all. If the force would have occurred from outside, then we know it would have been an end of the United Democratic Party. But when change occur, and we are in a modern democracy, so change comes upon us. And when we do not accept it, things like this happen. So that internal force that is occurring within the UDP, should make us evolve. And that would be the beginning of reform or growth. Whoever takes the lead.”

 

Mortis says she will be guided by the court’s decision on who is leader.  Until then, she agrees with Jamaican attorney, Dr. Christopher Malcolm on who is the present leader.

 

Dr. Nelma Mortis

“Professor Malcolm just solidified my position that I have been observing for very long in terms of saying by the constitution, by the law, that “Shyne” Barrow is the leader of the United Democratic Party.”

 

Marion Ali

“So what’s your take on the convention that was held?”

 

Dr. Nelma Mortis

“I did not know that section of the constitution that says that a convention should be held every odd year. And so the odd year was last 2023, this is 24. So the next convention should have been 2025. According to the U.D.P Constitution.”

 

Marion Ali

“But it also states that a special convention can be called if delegates.”

 

Dr. Nelma Mortis

“It says the special convention can be called in the case of an emergency. What is an emergency? Now, I will openly confess just like Professor Malcolm, that the constitution has room for interpretation and that is what is happening. They interpret it accordingly. And that is the first reform that should occur once the U.D.P. gets back its stability.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.