Kamla Persad calls PM Rowley’s decision to quit ‘a clear admission of his failure’

Kamla Persad-Bissessar said that Prime Minister Keith Rowley’s decision "is a clear admission of his failure to give the country an effective leadership”. The United National Congress leader gave her strong reaction through a press release.  

The opposition leader, who heads the United National Congress (UNC), said that PM Keith Rowley’s decision was a clear admission of his failure to give the country an effective leadership.  

The 75-year-old prime minister made the announcement in Tobago on January 3, less than a week after his government proclaimed a state of emergency to curb Trinidad and Tobago’s growing violence and deaths. The outgoing prime minister has faced a backlash for allegedly failing to ensure peace despite expressing strong dissatisfaction over the state of affairs.  

In a press release, former Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said Rowley’s announcement proved yet again his chaotic governance and the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) has led the Caribbean island-nation towards the direction of a failed state. Rowley has served as the prime minister since September 2015.  

Rowley mentioned his 45-year-long public life while making his announcement, but the opposition leader criticized him saying the former’s political legacy after so many decades only speaks volumes about failure, division and despair, and left the country in darkness. 

The Siparia parliamentarian, who is Trinidad and Tobago’s first woman prime minister serving between 2010 and 2015 and eyeing a return to power this year, accused her successor of ignoring citizens’ lives while encouraging a “perverse, wicked soap opera” within his party.  She said the only honourable thing which was left for Rowley was to call for the national elections.  

Rowley may pressure party MPs to endorse Stuart Young, suspects opposition leader 

Persad-Bissessar did not stop there. She also asked whether Rowley has plans to use his government’s retreat in Tobago to force PNM parliamentarians to endorse Stuart Young, the current energy minister of the country, as his successor.  

“Will taxpayers be forced to fund what appears to be a PNM internal power struggle disguised as governance?” she asked. Persad-Bissessar also criticized Rowley saying he cared little about observing democratic principles in his party, which she said was evident in the deferment of the PNM’s internal elections. 

“His disregard for democratic principles within his party, exemplified by the postponement of the PNM’s internal elections and special convention, speaks volumes about his leadership. 

MPs of the PNM were scheduled to meet at the retreat on January 5 and 6, cabinet sources said in December.  

Young is one of the prominent faces of the Rowley-led government who has chipped in as the acting prime minister and the acting attorney general.  

Persad-Bissessar also lashed out at Rowley and his PNM saying they caused economic hardship for the people, allowing a violent crime crisis to disturb the nation’s life and undermining independent institutions. She also questioned the timing of the announcement when Trinidad and Tobago has seen an emergency in place to rein in crimes. Slamming the move as a political gimmick, the veteran UNC leader called Rowley and his government “lame duck”.  

“The government is in chaos. Why make this announcement after calling an SOE (state of emergency) four days ago? It is clear that this SOE was a political gimmick that has already failed spectacularly,” the former PM said.  

Trinidad will face economic hardships, says Persad-Bissessar 

While accusing Rowley of presenting an ineffectual governance that has put the safety and security of the people of Trinidad and Tobago in jeopardy, Persad-Bissessar feared that the country was set to face an economic challenge.  

Alleging that Rowley has “crashed the country and abandoned the ship after raising his salary and pension”, the opposition leader said the state security officials will not care for instructions from a lame-duck PM while local and foreign financial bodies and energy companies will hold on to investments and credit access will be on hold. Persad-Bissessar said Trinidad and Tobago will become financially stasis in the days ahead.  

“I am informed that PNM MPs and financiers are dumping their TT dollar holdings as the country is on the IMF door, and financing from other agencies has dried up,” the leader said, taking another dig at the ruling party.  

Claiming that her UNC would lead the country back to prosperity, Persad-Bissessar urged the people of Trinidad and Tobago to remain vigilant and reject Rowley and his friends’ efforts to impose leadership on the nation which little reflects what the people want.