Opposition Leader: Young cannot fix Trinidad and Tobago

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says no People's National Movement (PNM) MP, including Energy Minister Stuart Young, can fix Trinidad and Tobago.

Persad-Bissessar made the comment in a media release addressing what she described as the “ongoing soap opera” over the leadership battle in the PNM.

The announcement by the Prime Minister on January 3, that he will step down from his role before the end of his term, sparked an internal debate over who should lead the party in the Parliament.

Government MPs were almost evenly divided at the end of a retreat on January 6, with 11 MPs voting for Young, while nine voted for Planning and Development Minister Pennelope Beckles-Robinson to replace Rowley.

However, after the PNM’s regular monthly general council meeting at Balisier House in Port of Spain on January 11, PNM general secretary Foster Cummings said Young now had the support of all the party’s MPs in the House of Representatives.

Cummings said the PNM continues to be a “strong and united party ready to continue to represent the country.”

Commenting on the development in a media release on January 12, Persad-Bissessar described the decision as a “questionable coronation” and “a nail in the cross for democracy.”

She said it shows the government has “virtually collapsed” under the weight of internal power struggles.

“The country remains rudderless and on dangerous autopilot. The reality is that Rowley’s naked attempt to play musical chairs with his entire bunch of incompetent ministers cannot and will never benefit the people of TT, now or in the future.”

She said the news conference at which Cummings  made the announcement was “nothing short of farcical.

“It was a vulgar and obscene charade aimed at hoodwinking a desperate, traumatised nation into believing that unity was achieved.”

Persad-Bissessar suggested the developments were an attempt to direct the population’s attention away from the issues facing the country.

“The current state of emergency (SoE), the unprecedented, brutal, runaway crime and murder wave and ongoing economic hardships for citizens have taken a back seat, as all PNM MPs and ministers have gone into self-preservation mode, following Rowley’s selfish decision to abandon his government’s desperately sinking ship.”

She warned the PNM will lose the next general election regardless of who is its leader.

“Rowley’s ongoing imposition of Young, or anyone else, as his replacement is therefore useless since this will not fix the runaway crime situation, create jobs, or bring the cost of living down. Indeed, not a single PNM minister or MP can do this. They are ALL the architects of TT’s decade-long slide into death, debt, and despair.”