LOCAL journalist and Editor in Chief of LIVEWIRE NEWS, Courdel Jones was ejected from an Alliance for Change (AFC) press conference on Friday after he highlighted a misleading statement made by a party member.
During the event, AFC member Collin Haynes asserted that the Charles Rosa Nursing School in Linden had been closed.
Jones sought clarification from a panellist regarding earlier comments made by the AFC about the school’s status.

Instead of providing an answer, the panellist seemed taken aback, and, shortly thereafter, the moderator removed Jones from the Zoom meeting.
Haynes, who identifies as a health professional, said, “…You only had three, now I think you have two, because they closed one of the nursing schools.”

When Jones inquired whether the school would be closed if he visited on Monday, Haynes retracted his earlier assertion and acknowledged that “the school was reopened”.
Minutes later, Haynes denied ever claiming that the school was closed, leading to Jones’s removal from the press conference. Notably, the AFC also edited out the audio of Haynes’ remarks before posting the event on its Facebook page.

This incident reflects a troubling trend of avoidance by the AFC. Earlier this year, the party faced backlash for not addressing questions regarding alleged financial misconduct during its time in office.
A few weeks ago, executive member Cathy Hughes defended her husband and party leader Nigel Hughes from inquiries related to claims made by the party concerning the 2020 general and regional elections.

On May 14, 2020, Executive Member David Patterson stated in a News Room report that he had seen Statements of Poll (SOPs) from the APNU+AFC coalition that corresponded with fabricated figures presented by former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
When Jones asked Hughes if the party still supported those claims, and if it would release those SOPs to the media, Hughes dismissed the question, and abruptly ended the press conference shortly thereafter.