Rowley's slate offers new faces to party posts

Dr Keith Rowley's slate on the nomination list for 2022 People’s National Movement (PNM) internal elections is populated with some well-known and expected names. However, there were a few changes that will surprise some.

For instance, Arima MP and Minister of Planning and Development Pennelope Beckles is not running for any position.

In May 2014, she unsuccessfully challenged Rowley for the leadership of the party, but was rejected to represent the PNM in the 2015 general election. She was appointed TT's Permanent Representative to the UN in 2016. She returned to TT and was elected Arima MP in 2020, and became Minister of Planning and Development in 2022.

Finance Minister and chairman of the party Colm Imbert is also not contesting his, or any other post. Nor is party treasurer and former minister of national security Howard Chin Lee, nor current social media officer and former minister in the Ministry of Agriculture Avinash Singh.

With Imbert stepping down, Energy Minister Stuart Young is stepping up, putting his name up for chairman of the party. Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, along with Minister in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning, is running for the post of vice-chairman, which has remained vacant since Robert Le Hunte resigned in December 2021.

On Friday however, Manning withdrew from the election. In his withdrawal letter to the Election Supervisory Committee, he gave the reason of "an unexpected and urgent family matter" that demanded more of his time and attention. His withdrawal left Gadsby-Dolly and Rondell Donawa to vie for the position.

None of the four contested the 2018 party elections.

Camille Robinson-Regis and Foster Cummings, however, are running for their current positions in the party unopposed, namely lady-vice chairman and general secretary respectively. Defending her post of labour relations officer is Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, who is running against Christian Flemming.

Making a change is PRO Laurel Lezama-Lee Sing, who, this year, will be running for education officer. The move opens the floor to Minister of Local Government and former PRO Faris Al-Rawi, who is running for the position unopposed.

In the 2018 election, Rowley ran unopposed for the position of political leader. This year, he is up against three other contenders – former finance minister under the Patrick Manning administration Karen Nunez-Tesheira, Junior Barrack and Ronald Boynes. Nunez-Tesheira was unavailable for an interview last week and her plans and vision as a nominee will be featured in a subsequent publication.

Rowley is the country’s oldest serving Prime Minister. He entered politics in 1981, when he unsuccessfully contested the Tobago West seat. Six years later, he served in Parliament for the first time as an Opposition senator from 1987-1990. And, since 1991, he has been MP for Diego Martin West.

In 1997, Rowley unsuccessfully challenged the late Patrick Manning for the party’s leadership, after the PNM lost the 1995 general election.

On April 23, 2008 Manning announced Rowley’s dismissal as Trade and Industry Minister, saying he was “fired for conduct unbecoming of a minister,” and "hooligan behaviour" at a meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Cabinet. But Rowley said he was fired because he objected to Udecott’s proposal for a 60-room hotel as part of the US$100 million National Academy of the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain.

He was elected political leader of the PNM in 2010 after the party’s defeat in the 2010 general election, and became PM in September 2015 after defeating the People’s Partnership coalition government in that year’s general election. He led the party into government again in August 2020.