GAIL ALEXAN­DER

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

While the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) Women’s League and oth­er PN­Mites are sup­port­ing the de­ci­sion of Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley for En­er­gy Min­is­ter Stu­art Young to suc­ceed him, for­mer Min­is­ter Robert Le Hunte and se­nior PN­Mite Ray Braith­waite be­lieve the par­ty and Gen­er­al Coun­cil should have a say in the is­sue.

The PNM’s Gen­er­al Coun­cil will meet at 4 pm Sat­ur­day for its month­ly meet­ing, a news re­lease from PNM Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Fos­ter Cum­mings last night re­vealed. No de­tails were giv­en, how­ev­er.

The last Gen­er­al Coun­cil meet­ing on Oc­to­ber 19 was a heat­ed event, with Cum­mings and ex­ec­u­tive mem­ber Jen­nifer Bap­tiste-Primus brac­ing Row­ley on the post­pone­ment of in­ter­nal polls and lead­er­ship “mes­sages.”

Af­ter Mon­day’s an­nounce­ment on Young, Le Hunte, who re­cent­ly lob­bied against the “anoint­ment of Young” and want­ed in­ter­nal polls to de­mo­c­ra­t­i­cal­ly se­lect a leader, said, “Al­though I re­spect the po­si­tion tak­en by the par­lia­men­tary cau­cus, I’m not at all sur­prised by it. Al­though the con­sti­tu­tion clear­ly caters for the ap­point­ment of a prime min­is­ter in this way, I feel it’s im­por­tant that any­one hold­ing such an es­teemed po­si­tion should have the full back­ing of the par­ty they rep­re­sent in Par­lia­ment.

“In the case of the PNM and our con­sti­tu­tion, this could on­ly be achieved via the one man, one vote for the of­fice of po­lit­i­cal leader and by ex­ten­sion, the Prime Min­is­ter. This is an elec­tion year, and the process is just as im­por­tant as the end re­sult. The out­go­ing Prime Min­is­ter clear­ly out­lined and put on the ta­ble, the op­tion of the Prime Min­is­ter and the po­lit­i­cal leader of the par­ty be­ing dif­fer­ent peo­ple. That’s a po­si­tion that the PNM as a par­ty will need to de­cide whether to en­dorse or not.” Le Hunte, who is in Ar­genti­na, added, “When Dr Row­ley was elect­ed as po­lit­i­cal leader, I’m con­fi­dent, they didn’t en­vis­age such a po­si­tion evolv­ing. I look for­ward to the par­ty’s po­si­tion on this de­ci­sion tak­en by the Par­lia­men­tary Cau­cus.”

Braith­waite, who is King Shep­herd of the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist Church, said he un­der­stood the process as be­ing one of gov­er­nance ver­sus po­lit­i­cal lead­er­ship and that what the Cab­i­net could make a de­ci­sion on was the gov­er­nance as­pect of it.

“But I think the par­ty may have a dif­fer­ent view, giv­en the process as out­lined in how the PNM does its busi­ness,” Braith­waite said.

“The way the PNM works, that mat­ter will in­escapably go to Gen­er­al Coun­cil and they’ll de­cide on how they’re go­ing to blend be­tween the gov­er­nance and the po­lit­i­cal lead­er­ship. They can’t re­verse what was done in the re­treat, but they should try to make it smooth. I have no doubt what hap­pened at the re­treat is to as­sure T&T of smooth tran­si­tion af­ter the PM leaves and up to elec­tion.

“But af­ter that, oth­er process­es will have to oc­cur. If the PNM wins elec­tions, we must have a PM and at­tor­ney gen­er­al, so the PNM will have to have those posts known be­fore the elec­tion, as those two posts are sworn in first. Af­ter that, the process has its own evo­lu­tions.”

Braith­waite added, “Once the PM re­signs, the Pres­i­dent will have to use her judge­ment to de­cide who com­mands the ma­jor­i­ty of sup­port, and that will take care of up to elec­tions. Af­ter elec­tions, a new process will have to iden­ti­fy who MPs wish to be the prime min­is­ter. “Mean­time, PNM’s Gen­er­al Coun­cil and Cen­tral Ex­ec­u­tive might start the process of de­cid­ing who they want to be their po­lit­i­cal leader. Those things must go through the es­tab­lished process of Gen­er­al Coun­cil, so at the end of it, Dr Row­ley can leave a na­tion­al po­lit­i­cal hero.”

Ex­ec­u­tive mem­bers hold dif­fer­ent views

PNM elec­tions of­fi­cer In­dar Paras­ram re­served com­ment on whether there should be a Gen­er­al Coun­cil on the is­sue, on­ly say­ing, “The Par­lia­men­tary Cau­cus made a de­ci­sion which I hope and pray is the best de­ci­sion for the par­ty in elec­tion. I hope at the end of the day it’ll ben­e­fit peo­ple, PNM, and coun­try.”

But PNM youth of­fi­cer and Ari­ma coun­cil­lor Je­niece Scott said, “I couldn’t be more con­fi­dent in the de­ci­sion of our Par­lia­men­tary Cau­cus to back Stu­art Young as the next leader. This se­lec­tion via vote showed the strength of our in­ter­nal democ­ra­cy and the vi­brant de­bates that make the PNM what it is.

“This isn’t about blind al­le­giance. It’s about recog­nis­ing lead­er­ship, ca­pa­bil­i­ty, and a vi­sion for T&T. Young has proven him­self time and again. Whether ne­go­ti­at­ing com­plex en­er­gy deals for cit­i­zens, man­ag­ing na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty, or tack­ling the tough­est chal­lenges in gov­ern­ment, he’s shown us he’s not just ca­pa­ble but is re­silient, strate­gic, and fo­cused on re­sults. I’ve seen his ded­i­ca­tion up close as PNM chair­man—a true ser­vant leader. He lis­tens, works hard, and makes the tough calls when need­ed. It’s no sur­prise the cau­cus saw fit to place its trust in him.”

On con­cerns that PNM’s ex­ec­u­tive was split on the is­sue and ex­ec­u­tive mem­ber Jen­nifer Bap­tiste-Primus’ crit­i­cisms, Scott said, “A healthy democ­ra­cy thrives on dif­fer­ing opin­ions and open de­bate. What mat­ters most is that, in the end, we stand by the de­ci­sion made and move for­ward to­geth­er. The PNM’s a fam­i­ly, and fam­i­lies some­times have dis­agree­ments. What unites us is al­ways stronger than what di­vides us. Dif­fer­ences in opin­ion with­in our lead­er­ship aren’t signs of di­vi­sion but ev­i­dence of a rig­or­ous de­mo­c­ra­t­ic process.”

She added, “From what we’ve been told by the Prime Min­is­ter, af­ter the ma­jor­i­ty of the PNM MPs vot­ed for Mr Young, there was then agree­ment by all that he was the choice. Isn’t that the nor­mal pro­ce­dure in democ­ra­cy? His ap­point­ment re­flects his mer­it and aligns with the prin­ci­ples of the West­min­ster Sys­tem, which is en­shrined in our Con­sti­tu­tion.

“Young’s track record—no small feats—shows ex­act­ly why he’s the right per­son to take the ba­ton when the time comes. The PNM’s a strong and unit­ed par­ty built on the prin­ci­ples of healthy democ­ra­cy. Let’s back our leader, stand by our par­ty, and keep work­ing to build a bet­ter T&T for all.”

Women’s League, chair­men sup­port

The Women’s League, via a state­ment, as­sured sup­port for Young af­ter Row­ley re­signs

Laven­tille East Mor­vant chair­man Kwe­si An­toine al­so said, “I have con­fi­dence in my leader, and if Dr Row­ley says so, it’s so.”

James Pur­cell, un­cle of late D’Abadie O’Meara MP Lisa Mor­ris-Ju­lian, said, “Lisa would have been very pleased with that an­nounce­ment. She was one of Stu­art’s biggest sup­port­ers, and he was her friend.”