Jenny: Too complicated | Local news

Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, member of the General Council of the People’s National Movement and industrial relations officer, has accused Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley of giving a convoluted explanation for the postponement of the party convention and internal elections.

She said the Central Executive Council and the General Council, with full knowledge of the PNM’s tradition of not holding internal elections in the same year as general elections, had agreed to a recommendation from the leadership to hold the party’s elections and congresses to hold this year.

Baptiste-Primus told the Express yesterday that the PNM leadership’s announcement of its decision to cancel the October 19 elections and congress “came out of the blue”.

She said that the reason given by the Prime Minister in his interview with the Express for canceling the internal elections – (that the party had a tradition of not holding national elections and internal elections in the same year) – was precisely that so it was. given to the General Council earlier this year as a reason for holding the party elections in November this year.

Earlier this year, leadership recommended holding internal elections this year, she said. She emphasized that some of the “discussion and explanation presented to the Central Board of Directors and then to the General Council was exactly what Dr. Rowley said, namely, that it was not common for the PNM to participate in national elections while at the same time participating in internal elections.

“What was also pointed out was that the next national elections would constitutionally take place in the year 2025… So it was agreed (by the Central Executive Council and the General Council) that in view of the fact that the general elections would take place in the year 2025 , and that is why we (the PNM) could not hold our internal elections in 2025, we should hold those internal elections this year,” she said.

Stressing that all matters related to the internal elections were discussed at the level of the central executive and the General Council earlier this year, she said both branches of the party agreed with the decision to hold elections this year.

She said the General Council then made a decision to appoint the Electoral Monitoring Committee, which included chairman Richard Walcott (who is also the chairman of the Laventille West constituency) and Michael Seales as deputy chairman.

The Electoral Commission continued its work and subsequently recommended that nomination day would be Monday, October 21, she said. She said the Electoral Monitoring Commission has agreed to a date for internal elections in Tobago and Trinidad.

Rowley made an appeal at the General Council level to the various units of the party, encouraging party members to go to the constituencies and mobilize members “to fill the stands for the Convention”, which was scheduled for November 17, 2024 , she said. .

Blessings from the General Council

Baptiste-Primus said that in preparation for the convention, all 41 constituencies participated in their elections by holding their party group elections, constituency general assemblies and then constituency conferences. The various women’s leagues of the constituency and the youth leagues of the constituency also held their internal elections.

Baptiste-Primus said it was “out of the blue” that the short communication sent by the Secretary General on Friday, October 11, stating that the internal party elections had been canceled, was announced to the public.

She said she immediately communicated with the party’s chairman (Stuart Young) to ask what the reason for the cancellation was. ‘Without the blessings of the General Council. I raised that as a concern. I didn’t get the answer I was looking for,” she says.

She said she was disappointed when she read the interview published in yesterday’s Express, in which Rowley suggested it was about political strategy.

She said that when Rowley spoke in the General Council, he said that the developing political situation justified the cancellation of the internal elections and the convention. “But what was that situation like? He didn’t say that,” she said.

Baptiste-Primus said she clearly remembered the issue of the December election being introduced by Rowley when he discussed “the political situation that had developed.”

“He introduced the issue and said, ‘You all want elections in December, and of course people said ‘no.’ Who wants elections in December? The party is not ready for possible elections in December. So I first heard the issue of the December elections raised by the Honorable Prime Minister on October 19.”

Complicated explanation

While she wouldn’t disagree with party tradition, she said Rowley’s explanation was “complicated.”

However, she said her main concern was that the Constitution indicates that the power to convene a convention and therefore postpone or cancel it lay with the General Council. She said there was an announcement of the cancellation “by the leadership without the blessings of the General Council.”

Baptiste-Primus said the PNM constitution also gives the political leader the power to convene a special meeting of the General Council, which could have been done before the leadership decided to cancel the meeting, rather than ratification after the fact of the General Council.

She said Article 19 of the PNM Constitution speaks of the authority of the political leader to provide political direction to the party, “subject to the provisions of this Constitution….So the political leader has that authority (to provide political direction) and I have certainly never challenged that authority, but the Constitution says that this authority (that authority to provide political direction) is subject to the provisions of this Constitution. And the Constitution provides that the General Council has the power to convene or annul the convention.”

She said every member of the party’s Central Executive was guilty of failing to comply with this provision, adding that she would never support any violation of the PNM Constitution.

She said that throughout his life, Rowley had spoken out when he felt something was wrong, and that she had always admired that trait of his. She added that for all those talking about taking disciplinary action against her for speaking to the media, many of them did not stand with him when “the former prime minister tried to lynch him.” She said she was one of those in his corner.

Baptiste-Primus also said she was invited and attended the Youth League’s annual conference at Government Campus Plaza, where the pageant took place, and was very impressed with the meeting. “I was so proud of them. There were different people running for different positions,” she said. She said she was aware that the chairman of the (PoS North/St Ann’s West) Youth League in Stuart Young’s constituency contested the position of chairman of the (national) Youth League but was unsuccessful. She said every position in the national Youth League was challenged, indicating that democracy in the PNM was alive and well among the party’s youth.