Dear Editor,
The level of revisionist history being presented by Selwyn Cudjoe in his recent attempt to criticize the PNM administration is astounding in its attempt to deify Dr. Eric Williams and the early days of the PNM, when the fact of the matter is that William’s party hated the black people of this country equally, if not more, than the current government. Part of me believes that Selwyn frames history in this way in part to erase his own complicity in the mistreatment of Trinibagnians by the PNM, a party which until recently, he has championed and defended despite their many crimes against their own supporter base. So by suggesting that only the most recent decisions being taken by that party’s leadership is a betrayal of the tenets of what the PNM was built and based upon, then he does not have to apologize or admit his own role and participation in the buyout of the self-anointed “black party” by the fairer class.
This is evident in the fact that in his most recent editorial, Prof. Cudjoe regales the formation of the PNM and what it was meant to represent to the descendants of the slaves and indentured workers pining for self-governance, and jumps directly to what the PNM reflects today. But in doing so, he deliberately ignored the Black Power Revolution of the 1970s which not only saw the formation of the National Joint Action Committee and other similar groups which protested against the discrimination running rampant throughout the country, and most prevalent in the corporate spheres, during the first two terms of Williams leadership of an independent T&T.
By glossing over this historic time in our history, Cudjoe also fails to ruminate or disclose the fact that Eric Williams was forced to reshuffle his Cabinet, taking on four Ministerial portfolios in addition to being Prime Minister and firing members who did not reflect the skin colour of the support base of the PNM. Of course, ANR Robinson resigned from the PNM of his own accord after the death of Basil Davis during a protest and would go on to form the Democratic Action Party, before taking on the leadership of the National Assembly for Reconstruction. And it’s fascinating because most people don’t consider the role that Mr. Robinson’s past political affiliation might have had on the electoral results, but in addition to the fact that the first non-PNM Prime Minister of this country was a former PNM Minister, I think it’s important to consider the number of hardcore PNM seats that were able to be converted during the 1986 election, in a result that has never been able to be replicated since.
And this is where I think Selwyn Cudjoe’s analysis completely falls apart because of his attempt to sanitize history and further his own agenda. Because looking back at the actual timeline of PNM leadership change tells a story that isn’t kind to the party as a whole. So after Eric Williams founded the party in 1956, and T&T attained Independence in 1962, he would remain as Political leader until 1981 when he passed away, which is understandable. But then the incoming leader was chosen from within the Government bench of Parliament and immediately faced a general election poll, which he won, but then lost in their most crushing defeat five years later. And this is where it gets really interesting because the person who would replace him could only be chosen from a pool of the three candidates fortunate enough to retain their seat in the 1986 general election, and Patrick Manning is considered to be the most sensible choice.
Here’s the thing, while Manning was able to win the general election in 1991, following the collapse of the NAR and the attempted coup, he then went on to lose the 1995, and 2000 general elections. By all metrics, this was a definitive rejection of Patrick Manning as a leader of the PNM by the electorate, and he might have been replaced following the 2000 defeat, had the UNC not called another election just one year into their term. Manning would then go on to win an equal amount of seats as the UNC in the 2001 election but with fewer votes, meaning that it would take four elections for him to regain the majority in the Parliament outright. And when you look back at history from this lens, it becomes conceivable that had Basdeo Panday not forced the PNM to call another election immediately in 2002, he may have been able to recoup their forces and regain the government at the end of the natural term.
This brings me to Keith Rowley, who is the only Political Leader of the PNM to be chosen by the membership of the party through a ballot system. Because this makes it a massive betrayal that he would be the first Political Leader of the PNM to not only step down on his own terms but also revert to a cloistered selection process for choosing his successor from among the government bench. Honestly, based on all that I have laid out here, it appears Keith Rowley is the only person that the PNM membership has actually supported as a Political Leader since the death of Eric Williams, and this is where the true failure of that party at an institutional level starts to show.
It is no secret that there has been a faction at the head of the PNM totem pole that has resented the election of Keith Rowley to Political Leader since day one, as this is something he has made known on the public platform on multiple occasions. But the suggestion that in handing over the government to Stuart Young, and by extension the upper class, is somehow selling out the party is preposterous as the PNM have always bowed to the whims of those with financial power since the days of Eric Williams. The real issue comes from the fact that, while the PNM have never worked to overthrow the established economic superiority of the wealthy class of this country, the fact that even the leadership of the party remains subservient to their financiers has not been a pill too large to swallow, so long as they maintained political control over the nation. Because the PNM has never been averse to selling out the dream of their membership and supporters, so long as they were able to create their own elite class within the political sphere.
As such, a Stuart Young regime potentially threatens this balance and exposes the true intentions of not only the PNM top brass but Selwyn Cudjoe as well. And no one understands this better than Keith Rowley himself, hence the reason that he is keen to upset the natural order and traditions of the PNM. Because it would appear that the membership of the party was more than happy to put their trust and faith in him, Keith Rowley has no love for the PNM, especially those who humiliate him, and as such in his final moments, is sending a clear message on where he actually thinks everybody’s place in the party truly is.
Best regards,
Ravi Balgobin Maharaj
