Story by RENUKA SINGH
After 40 years in politics, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley admitted publicly that he considered not running in the recently concluded 2020 General Elections.
Speaking on CNC3's The Morning Brew programme on Wednesday, Rowley said he did not let anyone within his campaign know because he felt they would not have understood the meaning behind it.
“Do you know what 40 years is? I’ve been in this for a long time, and there are things I want to do that are looming. I’m beginning to look over the horizon," he said.
"There comes a time when you start to look over the horizon, and I guess I'm at that age," he said.
Rowley also did not want to talk about whether he would be running in the next general elections in the next five years.
"I don't think that I should, at this stage, be taking that decision, but I have taken the decision that I should be transitioning," he said.
He has also taken no decision on whether he would contest for the upcoming internal leadership elections.
"The PNM is well organised to deal with these situations," he said.
He also did not want to get into the issue of succession planning because the PNM is not a "monarchy".
"This is not a monarchy where your pick your successor. My role is to make sure that the people who I have brought into the party and those who are here now are trained in such a way that when we have to pick someone to lead the party, there are people to fill the role well," he said.
He said while he has no one earmarked to replace him, he is working with the people and producing people within the PNM.
"My role is to make sure that those people are developed to a point that when it is time for the selection of someone to replace me that the party and the country has people who can say 'I fit the bill;," he said.
He said he was most proud to be the driver behind the "one man one vote" and away from the delegate system.
