THE UNTOLD STORY
By Ken Ali
Three former senior PNM Government officials have been meeting at a well-appointed home in north-west Trinidad.
Their agenda: Removal of Pennelope Beckles-Robinson, first as Opposition Leader and then as party boss.
Ms. Beckles-Robinson is aware of the plot and has told party allies she is “not afraid of them.”
The ex-officials have reviewed the likely backing for Stuart Young to be named Leader of the Opposition.
A minimum of seven opposition parliamentarians must write to President Christine Kangaloo pledging support.
The next PNM leadership poll is due in June 2029, mere months before the general election.
The media conference by former Prime Minister and party leader Dr. Keith Rowley was strategically planned at staying politically relevant.
Rowley aired dirty laundry about not being invited to the PNM’s 70th anniversary function, and pledged to spill more.
The quick and emphatic rejoinder to the ex-leader’s claim further confirms there is no love lost between Rowley and Ms. Beckles-Robinson.
“They want her out,” one knowledgeable top party person told me, “because they feel she is too quiet and too weak.”
Columnist Martin Daly recently asked whether the Facebook account PNM Changemakers – a faceless group that is pressing for a party shake-up – is a “Rowley/Young axis.”
Young made a hurried denial.
He has his own communications machinery.
He comments on national issues without consulting the party’s hierarchy.
There is ongoing PNM discord over Ms. Beckles-Robinson’s appointment of Foster Cummings and Faris Al Rawi to the Senate.
The duo has been termed “toxic” and “not the image the PNM needs to win the electorate’s support.”
Most interestingly, Ms. Beckles-Robinson has not commented on the stinging allegations with respect to construction of Balisier House under Rowley’s watch.
Rowley was fed softball questions at the media conference, with no one pressing him on how the PNM rose in a decade from a $4 million debt to finance a $100 million building.
One person with knowledge of the project told me: “Not a single cent came from the PNM.”
The party printed 105,000 raffle tickets – with 10 vehicles as prizes – with the aim of raising $10.5 million.
Tickets were distributed to the 41 electoral constituencies, but most of the funds were not remitted to the party.
Three construction contractors paid for a large number of tickets.
Two of the contractors won cars, one a luxury vehicle.
CEPEP and URP workers were also mandated to cough up funds, but it is not known how much reached the party’s leadership.
At least five major contractors supplied material and carried out construction works, using unmarked trucks.
Several other contractors reached out to a then-top party official and government minister to contribute to construction and retrofitting.
At least a couple “have question marks over their heads,” one in-the-know person said. It is known that one PNM contractor constructed all the steel for the new airport in Tobago and there are suspicions of kickbacks being paid.
Rowley uttered a vulgarity against Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar instead of explaining the questionable Balisier House funding.
People close to Ms. Beckles-Robinson said she is aiming to distance PNM from Rowley, the same way he did to Patrick Manning after the party’s defeat in 2010.
“It’s sweeping time,” one person said, referencing the PNM’s general election song.
At age 77, an aggrieved Rowley is still spoiling for a fight, determined to see the return of Young, his favoured successor.
The Rowley-Young team is said to be planning to reach out to two former UNC frontliners who have been busy on social media.
For various reasons, Balisier House is likely to remain at the centre of a political storm.
