Op­po­si­tion politi­cians were quick to have their say on the de­ci­sion yes­ter­day to have Stu­art Young serve as Prime Min­is­ter when Dr Kei­th Row­ley steps down from the po­si­tion.

Na­tion­al Trans­for­ma­tion Al­liance leader Gary Grif­fith warned the pub­lic to brace for what he be­lieves will be a ma­jor civ­il war with­in the PNM, giv­en Young’s tran­si­tion to the role of Prime Min­is­ter.

“I think this has been a plat­ter for op­po­si­tion par­ties to walk in­to. Peo­ple are ful­ly aware of Stu­art Young and who he is. I am not go­ing in­to per­son­al­i­ties but lead­er­ship plays a very big part in the di­rec­tion a coun­try is de­cid­ing up­on when it votes. Peo­ple know Stu­art Young and how he op­er­at­ed. And as much as I want to wish the PNM well, wish­es will not stop what is go­ing to hap­pen to the PNM in the very near fu­ture be­cause every­one in the PNM knows about Stu­art Young,” Grif­fith said.

UNC deputy leader Dr Roodal Mooni­lal, in a tele­phone in­ter­view, said, “Last Fri­day, we had a pi­lot sui­cide as Row­ley crashed the Gov­ern­ment. To­day, we dis­cov­er that the PNM has no im­pact sub­sti­tute. A few weeks again to sal­va­tion, as the UNC must re­turn to of­fice. On­ly Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is left stand­ing to res­cue this coun­try.”

Move­ment for Na­tion­al De­vel­op­ment leader Garvin Nicholas was not im­pressed with the an­nounce­ment of Young’s im­pend­ing el­e­va­tion to one of the coun­try’s high­est posts.

“If this is the best that the PNM can do then so be it. I hope that the pop­u­la­tion, in­clu­sive of for­mer PNM vot­ers, will be more dis­cern­ing when it’s time for them to vote. Min­is­ter Young rep­re­sents the very worst of what lead­ers have evolved in­to. His ar­ro­gance and will­ing­ness to twist the truth in knots will not be ben­e­fi­cial to the cit­i­zens. Just when I thought we couldn’t de­scend any low­er, we have.”

Ma­yaro MP Rush­ton Paray said, “The an­nounce­ment of Stu­art Young as the new night watch­man of the PNM is sim­ply a reshuf­fling of the deck chairs. The par­ty has col­lapsed un­der its own weight due to failed poli­cies, poor gov­er­nance, and a dis­con­nect from the needs of the peo­ple. Chang­ing the face at the helm doesn’t ad­dress the sys­temic is­sues or re­store con­fi­dence. It’s like chang­ing the ic­ing on a cake that has al­ready failed to rise—it doesn’t change the taste or the out­come.”