Will PM Young’s strategy win?

First, I wish to congratulate PM Stuart Young, SC, for the respectful and politically mature manner in which he handled Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s written request for international observers too. A good example is set, temporarily or not.

As for the 33-year-old bullying incident, one positive outcome is that out of the blurred circumstances, comes a national consensus against bullying in schools, workplaces, political parties, political platforms, and parliament. Remember, bullying is not only physical contact.

Now for the PM’s April 28 election strategy. Who were the front-line PNM Cabinet ministers who received constant criticisms from the UNC Opposition and the public? They were former attorney general Reginald Armour, SC, former minister of national security Fitzgerald Hinds, former minister of finance Colm Imbert, and former minister of public utilities Marvin Gonzales.

These four all held very sensitive and controversial portfolios for which they were obliged to publicly account. Some are asking, well, what about Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh?

Anyhow, these four, like the former PM, are no longer in the direct line of fire to account for the problems shaped by those critical ministries. Mr Armour took off. Dr Rowley resigned as PM. Hinds, Gonzales and Imbert have been strategically switched.

The question arises: To what extent, therefore, will they be now called by the UNC platform to account for what they, as ministers, left behind? Will the former PM and PNM political leader also face retrospective scrutiny?

The new PM called an early general election. This and the PM switching ministries seem as a quickened campaign strategy to gain some shelter from the expected accusations against the named ministers and his government’s performance. In fact, it now looks like the PNM leadership is having a greater public impact than the UNC. The time is short.

However, the UNC political leader Ms Kamla Persad-Bissessar bluntly saw no value in PM Young’s changes, saying “make no mistake, it is indeed the same old failed Cabinet with a minor reshuffle.” It is yet to be seen whether the UNC's delay in finalising its full list of election candidates and constituency preparations would affect its election outcome. There is a lot of ground for the UNC to cover and recover.

As former prime minister and UNC political leader, Ms Persad-Bissessar has been facing unprecedented pressures from inside and outside her party. Since 2015, she has also grown quite cautious of forming “political alliances,” biting the bullet as it were. Her apparent delays might have something to do with such pressures.

April 28 is so close that the electorate would be well served if the parties fully disclosed their policies and plans now. Regarding PM Young’s ministerial changes, Martin Daly, SC, rightly advised: “These assignments do not count for anything unless you put before the electorate policies that are going to solve some of the problems, particularly murders.”

We will discuss later the PM’s call for ”unity” and the rosy promises made by new ministers, Gonzales and new Finance Minister Vishnu Dhanpaul.

Now while there are a few “new” issues, for example, “missing money,” wrapped-up oil and gas sanctions, visa threats, foreign exchange shortage, hefty increased salaries for parliamentarians, most of the other issues have extensively been dealt with during the 2020 election campaign.

But what about reforming the political and parliamentary systems to provide improved accountability and public trust? Without this, new or old ministers will be the same.

Given the 2020 election results and the six “marginal seats,” especially St Joseph/Aranguez, San Fernando West and Sangre Grande, this 2025 election looks like a tough fight. (2020 results: Turnout 58 per cent of electorate. PNM 322,180 votes, 22 seats, 49 per cent; UNC 309,654, 19 seats, 47 per cent)

Some of the electoral uncertainties belong to the political situation with Tobago’s two constituencies now held by the PNM against the 14-1 Tobago House Assembly majority.

In December 2021, a new Tobago party, the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP), unleashed a severe beating on the PNM – winning 14 of the 15 seats in the Tobago House of Assembly. However, the once-powerful PDP led by Farley Augustine has since suffered a split with one of its founding leaders, Watson Duke, leaving and criticising the PDP’s leadership.

Apart from the growing political anomaly between the PNM’s two Tobago seats and the THA, it’s now questionable whether Augustine’s new party, the Tobago People’s Party (TPP), could exert the same strength as the PDP did in 2021. And this while the PNM Stuart Young’s star seems to be rising.