2 weeks Ago
Whatever stratagems are playing out behind the scenes, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has started a useful discussion on succession planning for political parties. In an interview last Tuesday with political editor Ria Taitt for the Express, Dr Rowley, asked whether a leader should have a vested interest in who succeeds him, said: “I expect that any genuine leader would want the organisation to succeed and therefore would have some element of interest in making sure that the party does well or does its best.” Be that as it may, no political leader in Trinidad and Tobago has ever had the opportunity to oversee their successor.
Dr Eric Williams, who founded the People’s National Movement, died in office in 1981 and his replacement, George Chambers, was appointed by presidential decree. Chambers resigned after losing his seat in the 1986 general election when the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) coalition routed the PNM 33-3. Patrick Manning then became the PNM leader because he was the preferred choice among the three PNM members of parliament left standing.
In 2010, Manning was ousted by Dr Rowley after the PNM was defeated by the UNC. In the United National Congress and its predecessor parties, succession planning also never happened. Bhadase Sagan Maraj became a political leader in the 1950s based on his founding of the Maha Sabha.
Dr Rudranath Capildeo was essentially elevated to office in the 1960s as the Opposition’s answer to Dr Williams. Then Basdeo Panday in the 1970s parlayed union leadership into a political career. Kamla Persad-Bissessar later defeated Panday in the party’s 2010 internal elections after corruption scandals bedevilled him.
At present, the UNC is split and Persad-Bissessar has not hinted she will be stepping down nor does she seem to be grooming anyone to replace her when she does. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a political leader’s right-hand man is not necessarily the anointed one. In politics, the opposite is often the case: a Prime Minister can best place his trust in someone who is competent, but has little chance of replacing him.
That is why Dr Williams’ blue-eyed boy was John O’Halloran, why Patrick Manning always chose Senator Dr Lenny Saith as acting Prime Minister, and perhaps even why Dr Rowley’s longest-standing ally has been Colm Imbert. Even Dr Rowley’s apparent anointment of Energy Minister Stuart Young may fit this pattern, since Young is far from an obvious choice for a PNM leader. Dr Rowley’s unexpected cancellation of the PNM’s annual convention and postponement of internal elections may in part be an attempt to manoeuvre between the rock and a hard place of the PNM base’s preferences and national appeal.
Party norms may work against electoral victory; this is as much a challenge for the UNC as for the PNM. The internal divisions would deepen democratic practice for both parties or create enough instability to force fundamental systemic changes. Either way, these developments will hopefully create more political dynamism in each party and more political stability for the nation.
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