Change in PNM headship

Whether he would admit it or not, outgoing Trinidadian Prime Minister Keith Rowley had been grooming Minister of Energy Stuart Young as his replacement as Rowley prepares to retire from active public life after 45 years.

In recent months, Rowley, 75, had left attorney Young, 49, to act as head of government whenever he had traveled overseas on public or private business, superseding cabinet veterans like Minister of Finance Colm Imbert and Pennelope Beckles at planning and development.

Since Rowley last week confirmed very detailed plans to quit as prime minister before general elections due in the last quarter of this year, speculation had been rife as to who would get the nod but all this ended predictably at a cabinet retreat in federation sister isle Tobago on Monday.

Briefing reporters at the end of the retreat, Rowley announced that Young had beaten Beckles in a cabinet straw poll to determine who colleagues had favored. In the end, Rowley said Young had emerged as the winner, albeit by a narrow margin. Local media reported that the margin was 11-9 with Rowley not casting a ballot.

Analysts predict that Young, the first Trinidadian of Chinese descent to lead the country, will face a tough challenge to rally the party’s mostly Afro base to face the Indo-dominated United National Congress (UNC) in general elections constitutionally due this year. He has been in cabinet and the governing People’s National Movement (PNM) for just 10 years and will be one of the youngest ever PM’s since independence in 1962. Tobago-born Rowley says he has faith that Young will do a good job.

“Minister Young came out with the majority of support. He has been in government now for almost 10 years, operating out of the office of the prime minister, where he would have seen the government close up and participated in it. I have seen him at work on many very detailed and technical assignments, and he has not only done the job but has distinguished himself. I have no doubt that Minister Young’s experience, his dedication, and his commitment to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, will ensure that during the period he has the responsibility for being prime minister, he will continue to put the people of Trinidad and Tobago’s interests first,” Rowley told reporters.

Young has held several top cabinet positions in recent years as his grooming process was accelerated and with Rowley giving broad hints that he had regarded Young as the “Gary Sobers” (cricketing superstar) of his cabinet as he had all round political and administrative abilities. His previous portfolios included security, foreign affairs, a stint at the PM’s office and energy in oil and gas-rich T&T.

He was absent from the briefing on Monday, but later took to social media to say he would like to “sincerely thank my parliamentary colleagues for the confidence they have expressed in me. I also thank Dr the Honorable Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, for his continued and exemplary leadership in guiding us through a historic process. I am proud to be a member of the PNM and look forward to working tirelessly not only with all of our members but also with all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago as we continue working towards the building of our country and ensuring its future success.”

Rowley said he would reveal his exact departure date after he returns from a mid-February CARICOM leaders meeting in Barbados, setting the stage for Young to replace him. By carnival in late February, Rowley says he would have retired into the political sunset.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, meanwhile, dismissed the impending cabinet changes, saying it means nothing but further hardship for locals. “Today, we have replaced a lazy, greedy, selfish old man with a lazy, greedy, selfish young man. His legacy is one of failure, division, and despair, leaving a nation in darkness. He should do the honorable thing and call the elections,” she said.