Geisha Kow­lessar

Se­nior Re­porter

geisha.kow­lessar@guardian.co.tt

Gov­ern­ment min­is­ters pre­sent­ed a unit­ed front yes­ter­day amid spec­u­la­tion that the PNM has been in dis­ar­ray af­ter En­er­gy Min­is­ter Stu­art Young was cho­sen as Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley’s suc­ces­sor.

Young re­ceived votes from 11 MPs to suc­ceed Row­ley, while Plan­ning Min­is­ter Pen­ne­lope Beck­les got nine dur­ing a straw poll at a re­treat in To­ba­go last week. Guardian Me­dia spoke to some min­is­ters be­fore en­ter­ing the PNM’s gen­er­al coun­cil meet­ing, which took place at the par­ty’s Bal­isi­er House, Port-of-Spain, head­quar­ters yes­ter­day.

They em­pha­sised the strength, sta­bil­i­ty, and de­mo­c­ra­t­ic na­ture of the PNM, as­sert­ing that the par­ty is uni­fied, strong, and ready for fu­ture chal­lenges, in­clud­ing the next gen­er­al elec­tion.

Min­is­ter of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Faris Al-Rawi

“This par­ty has a very strong con­sti­tu­tion. It has a very strong un­der­stand­ing of democ­ra­cy. We are very con­fi­dent, and we are on very se­cure and sta­ble foot­ing. All of us here as­sem­bled stand for the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment with com­plete sol­i­dar­i­ty ... We have a very clear, unit­ed po­si­tion on the strength of the PNM.”

For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne

“When that meet­ing is over, I an­tic­i­pate we will be stronger, more uni­fied, and ready for the next gen­er­al elec­tion ... This is a new for­mu­la for every­one, in­clud­ing the prime min­is­ter, but Dr Row­ley is not a novice to pol­i­tics or to lead­er­ship. I con­tin­ue to ad­mire the way that he car­ries him­self, and I have done so for a very long time.”

Min­is­ter of Youth De­vel­op­ment and PNM Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Fos­ter Cum­mings

“It’s a reg­u­lar meet­ing where mem­bers will voice their opin­ion on things ... No fight­ing. On­ly to­geth­er.”

Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of the At­tor­ney and Le­gal Af­fairs Renu­ka Sagram­s­ingh-Sook­lal

“What­ev­er mat­ters are placed on the agen­da, I have every con­fi­dence that as a par­ty, the par­ty mem­ber­ship will deal with it ac­cord­ing­ly ... We are the PNM. We have been in ex­is­tence since 1956, and we are an in­sti­tu­tion. This is where democ­ra­cy ex­ists. We are stronger than ever.”

Min­is­ter of Works and Trans­port and PNM Deputy Leader Ro­han Sinanan

“The PNM is a very sta­ble par­ty. We are go­ing through a process. I am very com­fort­able, and I know the PNM sup­port­ers are al­so very com­fort­able. We have a reg­u­lar gen­er­al coun­cil meet­ing. We are the PNM. We are the most sta­ble po­lit­i­cal par­ty in the West­ern Hemi­sphere.”