BY PETER GREEN
The bachannal in the People’s National Movement (PNM) has taken another casualty.
It is Joel Primus, the failed PNM candidate for Fyzabad in the 2010 general elections.
Primus wants no part of the chaos involving San Fernando East Member of Parliament, Brian Manning, and the party.
So on Monday, Primus tendered his resignation as a member of the PNM, “but wished them well going forward.” This followed the resignation of the entire executive of the San Fernando East constituency.
The following is the letter Primus sent to the General Secretary of the party, Foster Cummings.
24th August 2026
Mr Foster Cummings
General Secretary
People’s National Movement
Balisier House
1 Tranquillity Street
Port of Spain
Dear General Secretary,
Re: Resignation from Membership of the People’s National Movement
I write to formally tender my resignation as a member of the People’s National Movement, with immediate effect.
I joined the PNM in 1999 and was formally inducted at Balisier House in January 2000. My decision to join was grounded in my belief in the Party’s founding philosophy, aims, objectives and policies.
Over the years, I had the privilege of serving the Party at several levels—from the constituency and General Council to the Central Executive—as an ordinary member, Chairman of the National Youth League, a Senator and the Party’s parliamentary candidate for Fyzabad in the 2010 General Election.
Although I have not been actively involved in frontline politics since September 2012, I maintained my affiliation with and connection to the Movement at various levels.
At this juncture in the Party’s history, I have carefully considered its recent conduct, its performance in government, its loss of office and the wider state of the organisation. This reflection has caused me to question how the PNM has moved so far from the character and values with which I once identified: commitment to the national community, service before self, interracial solidarity and integrity in public affairs.
After separating fact from fiction and perception from reality, I have concluded that the organisation, in its present form, no longer reflects the PNM that I understood to have been shaped and led by Dr Eric Williams, George Chambers and Patrick Manning. I can no longer, in good conscience, maintain my membership.
I thank the Party and its membership across Trinidad and Tobago for the many years of support and friendship extended to me. I remain grateful for the opportunities I received to serve and for the contribution I was able to make to national development and the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
I sincerely wish the PNM well. I hope its members will summon the courage to call the Party back to order and undertake the transformation required for it once again to become a source of principled leadership and hope for the nation. This must include confronting any culture in which positions of authority are perceived to serve personal ambition, self-aggrandisement or the interests of a privileged few rather than the national community.
Yours sincerely,
Joel Primus
