TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO | PM Rowley announces energy minister as successor

SCARBOROUGH, Tobago (CMC):

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Monday said 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, thanked his parliamentary colleagues “for the confidence” they have expressed in him, thanking also Rowley “for his continued and exemplary leadership”.

Added Young: “I am proud to be a member of the People’s National Movement 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.”

Last Friday, Rowley announced that he would be resigning from office before the end of the term of his current government by August this year.

On Monday, he told reporters that “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 some time after that I will indicate the actual date when I leave.

“But I am busy on some matters that I am wrapping up. I don’t want to walk away and [leave] things I could easily do for somebody else to do,” said the 75-year-old 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, do 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.

Rowley, the seventh prime minister of the oil-rich twin-island republic and a volcanologist by profession, said that under the Trinidad and Tobago constitution, 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,” said Rowley, who was speaking at the close of the government’s parliamentary retreat.