Tracy: PNM internal election win brought challenges

Outgoing PNM Tobago Council political leader Tracy Davidson-Celestine has acknowledged facing internal challenges after taking control of the party in January 2020 internal election.

Davidson-Celestine replaced former chief secretary Kelvin Charles as PNM leader in a runoff. But the former ambassador to Costa Rica was unable to become chief secretary as she was not an elected assemblyman.

Charles, under pressure from his new leader, later resigned as chief secretary after initially saying he would not do so. Ancil Dennis created history as he became the youngest-ever chief secretary in May 2020. Davidson-Celestine entered the assembly as a councillor and new health secretary.

Davidson-Celestine, whose party had enjoyed a 12-2 majority in the assembly, later failed to lead the PNM to victory in two THA elections last year.

On Wednesday she insisted that she alone is not to blame for the party's loss in the December 6, 2021 THA election. She added that she will not sit idly by and continue to let people malign her character.

She was responding to statements made by political analyst Dr Shane Mohammed in a Sunday Newsday article in which he attributed blame to Davidson-Celestine for the PNM’s heavy 14-1 defeat to the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP). Mohammed had described Davidson-Celestine’s leadership style as narcissistic, saying she did not appear to have the best interests of Tobagonian at heart.

Davidson-Celestine, in a subsequent article, insisted the unilateral decisions taken by former chief secretary Dennis in the period after the Janaury 25, 2021 six-six election deadlock was also to blame for the PNM’s defeat.

Dennis, who is contesting the PNM’s leadership in its April 14 internal election, has said he will not drawn into any blame game over the party’s loss at the polls.

On the Tobago Updates programme, Davidson-Celestine said her comments were never meant to disrespect Dennis. But she believes there are attempts to demean my character, “and my position is that I will not allow it any more.”

She argued people should not blame her for everything that has happened in the PNM without looking holistically at the party’s challenges in the run up to the election.

“I don’t focus solely on signs and symptoms. I focus on the root cause and so we have to look what the root cause is. What caused the PNM the last election? It cannot be about Tracy Davidson-Celestine alone,” she said.

Davidson-Celestine said as Tobago Council political leader, she was responsible for taking the party into the election.

But she believes the party faced challenges after her victory in the last PNM internal election.

“In times before, you had Mr (Orville) London, who was the political leader and chief secretary so you would have had a meshing of both the policies and the administration coming together.

“When Kelvin Charles was there, he was the chief secretary and political leader so you would have had him carrying those two portfolios in one, making decisions on behalf of the party and also making decisions for the administration and the people of Tobago.”

She added under her stewardship, the positions of political leader and chief secretary were held by two different people – Charles and Dennis.

“And if those two positions don’t come together and function in the kind of way that you want it to, there will of course be challenges, and that is what I attempted to point out in that article.”

She described herself as patient, respectful and rooted in family values.

“I am of and for the people of Tobago and Trinidad and Tobago. But I will not allow anybody else to demean my character in any way.”

What does Davidson-Celestine believe accounted for the PNM’s loss?

She said when a party is in office in office, people judge their performance to determine whether their quality of life had been improved.

“That is what people look at – the administration and what they did over the period of time. Did I get jobs? Did they pave my roads?

“The other party that is out of office and seeking to come in, people will pay attention to the things that they are saying. Is it enough to cause me to vote for them and to subsequently change my quality of life and standard of living? The comparators and the measures are very different.”

Davidson-Celestine said while the people were looking at what the PNM did over the years, the PDP paid attention to their plans.

“So, the issue of ex-gratia payment, incumbency, the length of time with the PNM – those were the factors in the main that would have caused the People’s National Movement to be where it is today.

“There were other issues on the table but for me as political leader that would have been the principal issue and the principal factor."