An­drea Perez-Sobers

Se­nior Re­porter

an­drea.perez-sobers@guardian.co.tt

There will be no swan song for Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert, as he says he will be de­liv­er­ing his 11th bud­get pre­sen­ta­tion next year once the PNM wins the next gen­er­al elec­tion.

Im­bert made the com­ment dur­ing a vir­tu­al me­dia con­fer­ence yes­ter­day.

With a smirk, he said, “I said that in my bud­get speech. This was my tenth bud­get pre­sen­ta­tion, and I will be back for my 11th bud­get pre­sen­ta­tion. “I thought I was clear. You could hear it to­mor­row as well,” he chuck­led.

Im­bert has been MP for the con­stituen­cy of Diego Mar­tin North/East since De­cem­ber 1991. Im­bert has served in sev­er­al po­si­tions while in pol­i­tics. He was pre­vi­ous­ly Min­is­ter of Health (2001–2003), Min­is­ter of Sci­ence, Tech­nol­o­gy, and Ter­tiary Ed­u­ca­tion (2003–2005), Min­is­ter of Works and Trans­port (1991–1995 and 2005–2010), Min­is­ter of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment (1993–1995), Chair­man of the Pub­lic Ac­counts Com­mit­tee of the Par­lia­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go (2010–2015), as well as Leader of Gov­ern­ment Busi­ness in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives (2007–2010).

Last month, Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley told the Par­lia­ment that he did not know how much longer he had in pol­i­tics.

At the end of his con­tri­bu­tion to the 2025 Bud­get de­bate, Row­ley al­lud­ed to the par­lia­men­tary swan song (fi­nal per­for­mance or ac­tiv­i­ty of a per­son’s ca­reer) de­liv­ered by Ma­yaro MP Rush­ton Paray.

“I am now in my tenth year as Prime Min­is­ter. I, too, maybe a swan,” Row­ley told the House. He al­so in­di­cat­ed to House Speak­er Bridgid An­nisette-George that it had been a plea­sure work­ing with her as Speak­er.

“I don’t know how much longer I will have in this Par­lia­ment, but I have done my du­ty. I have kept the course. I have run the race, and I look for­ward not for a pot of gold but for my fam­i­ly at the end of this rain­bow,” he said.

Row­ley was first elect­ed Prime Min­is­ter in 2015 and again in 2020.

Since the PM hint­ed at re­tir­ing from ac­tive pol­i­tics, sev­er­al names have been tossed in the ring to re­place Row­ley.

So far, sev­er­al oth­er PNM MPs and min­is­ters have in­di­cat­ed their will­ing­ness to stay in pol­i­tics and con­test seats.