T&T: Prime Minister Rowley names successor
SCARBOROUGH, Tobago, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Monday said his Energy and Energy Industries Minister, Stuart Young, had been chosen by the legislative caucus of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) to succeed him as prime minister and that “the promise of a smooth transition is going according to plan”. In a brief statement, Young, 49, said he “would like to sincerely thank my parliamentary colleagues for the confidence they have expressed in me,” thanking also Prime Minister Rowley “for his continued and exemplary leadership in guiding us through a historic process. “I am proud to be a member of the People’s National Movement (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,” Young added. Last Friday, Prime Minister Rowley announced that he would be resigning from office before the end of the term of his current government by August this year and on Monday told reporters here “there are a couple of things I am committed to doing before I come out of office”. He said he intends to attend the meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to be held in Barbados on February 19, “and sometime after that I will indicate the actual date when I leave. “But I a busy on some matters that I a wrapping up. I don’t want to walk away and do things I could easily for somebody else to do,” said the 75-year-old Rowley, who has been in active politics for the past 45 years. “So, I am pretty much winding up these matters. That will be my last CARICOM meeting and I am chairman of a couple positions there. I want to make sure that one, they now know that I am going and two, what we are able to do in closing off”. Rowley said that the Bridgetown meeting will also allow him to deal with matters of regional security and West Indies cricket. He said following CARICOM meeting he returns home and wrap up several matters while getting “ready for Carnival and moving out of this position”. Rowley, the seventh prime minister of the oil rich twin island republic, said that under the Trinidad and Tobago Constitution, the President Christine Kangaloo will appoint a person from the government benches whom she believes commands the support of the majority of government legislators. “We as a caucus of PNM in the House, we discussed at length and in the end came up with a situation where the entire PNM caucus is in support of…Young,” Rowley, speaking at the close of the government’s parliamentary retreat here, adding we are very pleased to announce that the promise of a smooth transition is going according to plan”. Rowley said that a convention will take place in the PNM to elect a new leader and the earliest would be the last Sunday in September. Young, the oldest of three children, first served as a temporary opposition senator before being elected as the Member of Parliament for Port-of-Spain North/St. Ann’s constituency in the 2015 general election. A practising attorney since 1998, he was appointed Minister in the Ministry of Attorney General and Legal Affairs. He has been admitted to the bar in Trinidad and Tobago, London, the Commonwealth of Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda. A graduate of the University of Nottingham, Young has acquired a wealth of experience in civil, commercial, banking, insurance law, industrial relations, public law and constitutional law and election petitions having dealt with many complex litigation matters, according to his biography posted on the website of the Parliament here. The former head alter boy had considered becoming a priest or accountant before pursing law in England. In recent times, Young appeared to have gained the support and confidence of Rowley, accompanying him on many overseas trips negotiations complex agreements on behalf of the country, including the oil and gas agreement with Venezuela despite a United States sanction against the South Aerian country. “However, although widely regarded as Dr Rowley’s preferred choice as successor, Young is not an automatic shoo-in for the position, as other names have been thrown into the ring, including Foster Cummings, Amery Browne and Pennelope Beckles,” the Trinidad Guardian newspaper said in an editorial last weekend. A volcanologist by profession with a doctorate in geology and only the second Tobagonian to serve as prime minister of this country, Rowley recalled that following the last general election, he had informed the country and the party of his intention to quit politics “but it appears that most people did not believe it. “I understand that because it is not something we are accustomed to. I believe there are very few people who would believe that nobody walks away from the Office of the Prime Minister. I never saw it that way. “I am very honoured to have been given that opportunity. I did it to the best of my ability. I know I did not please everybody every time, but I think on a balance of reason that we would have made some improvements and would have dealt with some difficult situations which having not dealt with them in the way that we dealt with them, it would have been a far worse situation”. He told reporters that he had no difficulty in deciding now was the best time to step down “and I am comfortable that coming out and leaving a group of people in government and in the party, who could have done what they did here to say, which is to settle whatever differences we would have had …and for all of us to rally around a candidate of our choice….and provide the country with stable, honest government”. Rowley brushed aside questions that Young, would find it difficult to command the support of the PNM as prime minister having not led the party into a general election, saying “I expect the PNM membership will understand the circumstances and the ..you would know we don’t go to a convention during an election year. ‘And secondly, the membership will know that a PNM minister selected by the President is the best option for the country,” said Rowley, who served as Prime Minister for two consecutive terms since winning the general election in 2015, serving in various portfolios in government since his entry into politics in 1981.