PM confirms PNM leadership transition ahead of general election

THE Prime Minister says the People’s National Movement (PNM) is in transition.

He made the statement in an interview with reporters on January 4 after the screening of nominees for the Tobago East and Tobago West seats at the Calder Hall Multipurpose Facility, Tobago.

The screening took place the day after Dr Rowley announced during a news conference that he was stepping down as prime minister and would not offer himself as a nominee for the Diego Martin West seat in this year’s general election.

Rowley said since the announcement, he has been inundated with phone calls.

“Many people were surprised because they had not ever been taking very seriously what I have been saying all along,” he said.

“I made it quite clear in 2020 that I will not be there on election night as leader to be dealing with the election results. That was quite clear.

“Subsequent to that, I made it clear again on a number of occasions but it was difficult for people to accept that a sitting leader would walk away.”

He said the fact that this has never occurred previously, does not mean it cannot happen.

“So we are all into a new situation. It is new for me. I’ve never done this before. But I have taken this direction and I think it is positive for the organisation and for the country.”

Rowley said the party is focusing on the development of its young people.

He recalled that when he joined the election campaign in Tobago in 2013, “The only speech I made on that campaign was young people come forward and take responsibility for your country.

“Those who work with me in the Cabinet will tell you - I tell them jokingly sometimes - hard work is for young people. And while the experience of the older people is valuable, you really feel good if those who you’ve mentored and nurtured come of age and take responsibility.”

Rowley said Tobago MPs Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis and Ayanna Webster-Roy are examples of young people who were nurtured in the party.

The women were again selected by the PNM screening committee to contest the Tobago West and Tobago East seats in this year’s general election.

“When I started out here with Shamfa Cudjoe and Ayanna Webster-Roy, they were green neophytes. Today, they are experienced ministers of government who have had responsibility for sections of the country’s management under their responsibility and control.

“So I felt good about having mentored them and raised them. I could walk away from them now knowing that they can handle their situation.”

He added, “And not only them, a large chunk of this government would have people like that and I, as leader, and I have said so openly that I saw my role in the PNM and in the country as transitioning those who were in office, my colleagues who I came in with and passing that responsibility to a new generation of people.”

Rowley recalled when the PNM assumed office in 2015, there were five retired people in government.

“In the first government, we relied a lot on these retirees to bring that experience. But after five years you will also have noticed that all these retirees came out of the rotation and they were replaced by younger people.

“So if you look at those constituencies, you will see Marvin Gonzales, you will see Roger Munroe, you will see Kennedy Richards. So this is not happening by accident. It is happening by a clear plan of action in an organisation that believes that we will be here in the future. So we can plan now and expect to have a future.”

He said the PNM is not a “today for today” party.

“Since 1956, we always take the long view of Trinidad and Tobago. And that is why we are here for 60 odd years.

And what you are seeing now, the PNM is in transition and we have moved along the way.”

Rowley said the analysts and commentators do not observe these things “because they believe in bacchanal and personal attacks and personalisation of everything. That I what they good at, ill informed, unresearched.

“But if you researched and seen what was happening you would have seen the difference between 2015 and 2025 in the PNM.”

He described Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s response to his decision to step down as “pathetic.

“As a colleague of mine in the Parliament, I must tell you - not that I want to be praised by her - but I think that the kinds of commentary that flows, there is too much hatred, there is too much bile, there is too much vitriol, there is too much personalisation of public business.”

Fortunately, he said, the PNM does not have that.

Rowley said in his Cabinet, there are several ministers from the Patrick Manning administration, who publicly opposed him.

“But we did not lose their talent in the PNM. They were allowed to function. They were allowed to grow. They were allowed to contribute.

“So today we are proud of them for the job they have done, the experienced they have earned and the job that they continue to do. And that is why we can go into a general election and say to the country, ‘Vote for the PNM.’

“We will put management in place that does not risk the country’s future. We can say that without fear of contradiction.”