The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is looking at a new person to take over as its Caretaker for the Constituency of St Mark.
Well-placed sources told THE NEW TODAY that at a Constituency Branch meeting on Wednesday night, the Principal of St Mark’s Secondary School, Caris DeGannes got the nod from Congress members to take over from Senator Quinc Britton.
One official said that Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell was present at the meeting where the vote took place not by secret ballot but by persons being asked to stand up to express their support for either Britton or DeGannes.
He indicated that there was “an excellent turnout” of NDC members at the branch meeting with over 50 persons voting in favour of DeGannes and a mere 12 for the government Senator.
The source pointed out that only a handful of persons including Briton’s mother and the daughter of a former Member of Parliament for St Mark showing any resentment at the outcome of the election.
DeGannes was not present at the meeting that was chaired by Accountant Wayne Francis who was once associated with the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP).
According to a source, DeGannes is still a member of the teaching profession and has not completed the process for her exit from the service with the Public Service Commission (PSC).
DeGannes is said to be coming to the NDC from a family in St Mark that is known to be strong supporters of the main opposition New National Party (NNP).
She is also associated with the Roman Catholic Church in the community and was recently the featured speaker at one of its main events.
St Mark has been considered over the years as a garrison constituency for NNP as the party has never lost the seat since Grenada’s return to democratic rule of law in 1984 following the collapse of the 1979-83 Grenada Revolution.
The NNP has selected medical doctor Myanna Charles as its candidate for the Constituency.
Charles is replacing Dr. Clarice Modeste-Curwen who has been the elected representative of the rural constituency since 1999 for an unbroken 27 straight years.