It has been confirmed that Patrick Manning has resigned as the political leader of the PNM.
PNM’s Party Chairman Conrad Enill said that Mr. Manning has stepped down. He said that Patrick Manning offered to stay on until a new political leader was found. However, insiders said that the General Council asked Mr. Manning to resign with immediate effect. Mr. Manning then resigned and promptly left Balisier House.
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News Update: May 28, 2010
Manning’s letter of resignation
The General Election of May 2010 did not result in victory for the People’s National Movement. As Political Leader I accept full responsibility for this result. I am of the view that the party should in these circumstances now proceed to elect a new political leader in the shortest possible time and in accordance with the party’s constitution.
To facilitate this process, I hereby resign from the office of Political Leader. May I also indicate that if it is the party’s wish I am prepared to stay on as political leader until a new political leader is elected at which time it would be my pleasure to gracefully demit office.
I was first elected Political Leader on February 8, 1987 and it has really been a pleasure to serve the party these past 23 years. I wish to thank the party’s membership for the opportunity to serve at this level and for such a long time. I wish also to assure you and through you our party’s membership that I will give full support to the new political leader and would at no time operate in any manner the effect of which would be to bring the party into disrepute.
Yours in PNM, Patrick Manning
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PNMites, general council tell Manning: GO NAH!
The stone that the builder rejected has become the cornerstone. Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley, on whom the leadership trained its guns for the last two years, was yesterday embraced by the General Council when they asked the PNM parliamentarians to indicate to President George Maxwell Richards that they were supporting him for the position of Opposition Leader.
Manning quits, Rowley in
THERE was high drama at Balisier House last night as Patrick Manning resigned as political leader of the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the party’s General Council advised the party’s 12 MPs in the House of Representatives to support Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley as Opposition Leader.
Cops protect former PM
Officers from the Guard and Emergency (GEB) branch sprang into action yesterday to protect former prime minister Patrick Manning when his vehicle was mobbed by scores of angry party supporters who booed and held up placards at him as he left Balisier House, Port of Spain.
Imbert mum on support for Rowley
PNM Diego Martin East MP Colm Imbert has remained mum on whether he will support fellow MP Keith Rowley for the post of Opposition Leader.
Post-election pain for PNM
In his concession speech on Monday, former prime minister Patrick Manning followed the best tradition of democratic politics and accepted full responsibility for his party’s defeat. The country was, however, taken aback that such acceptance was not followed by the action immediately, or the morning after, of resigning his position as PNM political leader. Instead, he waited until yesterday.
The emperors’ new close
After the results of last Monday’s election, I am confused, dejected, and even considering using curl activator. And, no, this is not because I am a PNM-till-ah-dead. While it is true that PNMites’ faith in a world where Great-is-the-PNM-and-it-shall-prevail has been shaken worse than Haiti last January, at least they can go and pray at the church in Guanapo. My faith, however, has been even more badly rattled by the 29-12 outcome: and, in this weather, I can’t even go hiking to El Tucuche.
Manning’s sad fall
A mere 13 months ago the world was at his feet. Patrick Manning, bearing the exalted title of Prime Minister, had just hosted the Fifth Summit of the Americas, a conference that huddles leaders of the hemisphere. Manning rubbed shoulders with US President Barack Obama, within months of the latter’s presidency.
Well, well there is finally dialogue, Rather than saying the PNM, I should have said the Self Centered Leaders you have had for the past 40 years. Under the Eric Williams Govt, the country experienced progress and fairness to all peoples. Well Linda I started out working for 6.00 per week in Trinidad. With Inflation, salaries around the world have escalated to match the cost of living.
Yes education is free, From where is the money coming to pay for these programs. Taxes taxes taxes.
Who are the recipients of all these houses that are built throughout the country? Was this not a strategy by the ruling party to relocate their supporters to areas that are populated but peoples of the opposing party. Thus splitting the votes in these areas.
I visit the the country every year, and I see first hand the deterioration, from when i left.
Is it normal for the crime level to be referred to as being MANAGEABLE. Please name me a country with a population simmilar to Trinidad, has a level of crime as yours. My own city of 1.2 million people had 12 murders. in 2008 i believe yous was 550. Is this normal.. Your criminals and murderers and gangsters were referred to as Community leaders by the Almighty Manning.
Can’t wait for the clean up to start.
For the first time you will see a Government who will work for all peoples not just one race. Before anyone comment on this poiint, please tell me what is the percentage of negros compared to indians, in the Public Service, or among all Government workers.
Hope i provide lots for you to stew on..
THANK YOU MISS EDWARDS! Once again you have put these racist people in their place!!!! Yes Manning and the PNM has had their faults but GREAT things were accomplished for TnT. Quite frankly I am saddened by the behaviour of those who assembled outside Balisier house…UNGRATEFUL!!! And to think that they benefitted the most under PNM!
I still stick to my point that we as trinidadians create our own problems. If you cut down the trees on the hillside, then it will FLOOD! How can you complain of high food prices when the MALLS ARE FILLED EVERY WEEKEND?!
Mr. Manning , I salute you!
The PNM did a lot for the country but failed to provide an oppurtunity for a better the quality of life for most of the low income families. They were always struggling to overcome poverty and were therefore susceptible to a life of crime and prostitution. This led to a total breakdown of family life in most homes and the necessary social services were lacking to halt the destruction.
I actually agree with you yes….
I think for the first time in a very long time Mr Manning is heeding to his wife advice. All the time it was about him till now. So maybe they had a good talk and she let him know who is boss. If Mr Manning was listenning to her all along the PNM would have still been in power.
I am baffled at the fact,that an island surrounded by water, suffered a drought from January till the day Manning called the election. What did the Government in place do to provide adequate filtration system to ensure that the people of Trinidad had sufficient drinking water. Farmers were banned from using water from the rivers to water their crops. There is no justification for the level of crime to be at such an epidemic state in the country.
When close relatives are held up at gun point are robbed of their belongings, it hits home.. it clearly shows the inadequacy of law and order in the country. When your National Security Minister says that the level of kidnapping is at a manageable level or the level of crime is manageable, From which planet did these people come.
How many millions of dollars were given to the Pan organization in Trinidad, to construct their buillding in Trincity.. the unfinished building still stands in ruins as a landmark for all to see. Who was the party in charge all these years?
With the new Government in place, let us give them our support and revitalize and clean up our own neighbourhood. If everyone does his part then everyone wins as a whole.
Dear Canadian: From the beginning of the Indian arrivals in TnT in 1850, they did not want to be part of what the African population did. They resisted learning English and going to the English-speaking schools, along with the African children. This is why the Canadian Mission Board began schools in the Indian communities.This data is available in the archives of TnT, go check on it.
The Indians prefered to be in business, so tey would not be supervised by Africans, while the Africans who mastered English could join the Civil Service. It is only in the last two generations that you cannot differentiate between Indian accents and African accents in Trinidad.This is due both to universal education, pushed by the PNM, and television and radio becoming universal in our homes.
Sir Tevor McDonald,of the BBC, is a former radio reporter in Trinidad, who mastered English enough to become the arbiter of what is correct English Usage for the BBC worldwide broadcasts. He is now about 72 or so.I used to call him “jam on the face” because he had the early face markings that predict diabetes, but I did not know what they were, then. He never heard me call him this, we did not socialize together , but I am apologising to him hereby, for that. No Indian from Trinidad would have gotten that far, because of their failure to mix and integrate back then.They resisted being part of the country as much as they could, and immediately set up a caste system among the chamar, so that they could have some people to be better than. Now, at Woodbrook Secondary where I taught soon after it was founded, I had two students who presaged the future, Charmaine Brown and Indira Bissoon, they were the closest of friends, almost inseparable. That was before the rupture that was the Panday era created a seam across the country and counting heads began. The Indians counted heads in every government ofice, but no non-Indians were employed by the big Indian owned businesses. We used to walk into Kirpalani’s and look arounfd, not a one of us, and go two stores down and shop at johnson and Johnson, or across the street at Glendinnings. When I was at UWI however, I helped tutor the wife of a government minister who was also a student.(Indian, Agriculture) The Africans have always reached out to the Indian community. To say otherwise is a lie, but, few of us speak Hindi, so we do not know what is being said against us, even in our presence. The Indians in India used to laugh at the British to their faces, without them knowing what they were saying.
All of that, however, is water under the bridge.
Too many of our nieces and nephews are mixed race people of every mixture, for race to continue to be major issue, but based on past performances, some people need watching 24/7.
I fully expect the “discovery” that the treasury is empty, so campaign promises cannot be kept.
I repeat, because I am an educator, there have always been taxes. Mr. Maning did not introduce taxes. To imply any such thing is to be downright stupid.
If he had done everything else and not built a new residence and broken down the one where Panday’s attache shot another
officer to death, he may have been more popular. In the previous UNC governemnt they were saying that the mortgage on his own residence was not paid. They resented the fancy new digs. They made the same fuss about the residence of the Ambassdor to the Court of St JAmes.
Are we going to establish an ajoupa in every ambassador’s residence, to demonstrate fake humility?
I hope you are more familiar with current CAnadian politics. As a citizen, you owe your country of adoption that.
Dear Canadian trini: After this I am done. Saudia Arabia is a peninsula surrounded by water, and is a desert from the Arabian Gulf to the Red Sea. I know. I’ve been there.Road blocks cause by weather, are sandstorms, not floods. Manning cannot make water, except to “pee”. Knucklehead. Had you paid attention in school you may have known about evaporation and condensation, that causes ran. You would have known of the impact of forests on rainfall, and the destruction of the hills by squatters that has affected rainfall. Please do not demonstrate how shallow brained you are. I am not arrogant. I just believe that people who dare to talk in public, ought to know what they are talking about. There is no excuse for ignorance these days.I am usually proud of the fact that my people, anywhere they are, show how well informed, sophisticated, and tolerant of all people and religions we are. You make us look bad on the international scene.
Canadian I am a trini living in the US, i remember when indian parents forbid their children from entering the public service, police, prison, and defence force, along with the youth camp. In order to prevent them from mixing with Afro trinis. However with the advent of more secondary education these walls that the parents built around thew kids started slowly eroding. Today race relation is much better than yesterday. And much more young people of indian decent are joining the public service. It was not institutional discrimination that kept them out,it was self discrimination. That’s the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Hi Linda, Undoubtedly you failed in covering the facts that the Indians elevated themselves in every way. I dont know from where you are getting your history, but as having lived for over 60 years, english was my mother tongue and there was no one that i knew with the exception of perhaps 3 or 4 families who spoke hindi. Your fabrication of history to accommodate your bias and narrow thinking makes me question exactly what you taught as a teacher. Hope it was not History.
Yes the indians became successful on their own and showed their creativity to develop and become successful academically, socially and economically.
If you consider the present state of Trinidad and Tobago as a model to the world, it shows the shallowness of your knowledge as to what is considered as developed.
You don’t have to give me an education on how rain is formed. That I know.
In this the 21 century, bring yourself update on the use of a DESALINATION PLANT, you have to improvise. Of course this takes BRAINS.
Get back to your history books. For the record, India has the second largest population in the world and is selfsufficient, Yes they told the British that they could do things themselves. They are successful..
Can you say the same for the Continent of your forefathers.
Perhaps you want to bring us back to tribalism.
Well a country that has over 550 murders in one year, and countless kidnappings, You are doing a good enough to advertize yourselves in the international scene. How many International Airlines fly into Trinidad and Tobago, How many Countries have travel advisory notice for their citizens. NOT to go to Trinidad.
Lets hope this new government start cleaning up the corruption from top to bottom and get the country back as the Land of Paradise.
Well, this election was an eye opener for me. Growing up in T&T I knew there was a division but I never knew it was this deep. My God, we are citizens of T&T a Cosmopoltian Country, can we try and be civil towards each other and encourage healing as we put the PNM Era behind us and move on for the future generation. Parents, this is history around the world, spend some time explaining to your young ones how important it is for us to look at each other as equals.
The Honest One, I only wished what you said was true. All areas of Government blatantly discriminated against the Indians in the country. The Public Service positions were given to the NON-Indians. I myself have been a receipient of wrath of your so called equal Government, over 45 years ago.
It’s only the narrow minded thing that they indians did not want their children to mingle among the blacks. The truth is that the indians were not given to chance.
Things cannot be changed in our country if we ignore that a problem exist.
For the first time, in our history, i believe that we can truly have a Government that represents all people of Trinidad and Tobago. NOT just one race.
The story of Indians refusing to mix and go to school with Africans is contained in various education commission hearings and reports, done by the British government when we were a colony. I cannot recall the name of the commission, but the reports are public documents that are available to all who could read.I read them. One, I think was the Moyne Commission.
There is no doubt that the crime rate in TnT has escalated. That is definitely connected to our proximity to Venezuela and Columbia, and the drug trade.Have you checked the murder rate for Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, just across the US border? They have had a murder count of nearly 3000 for the year so far. Have you checked the Jamaica drug lord riots? An estimated 50 dead, because the state wanted to extradite a criminal. Trinidad and Tobago extradited at least four people to the US in the last two years, not a hint of violence out of the people.We are, basically a law abiding people.We cannot move the island’s location. Look at Tobago, it was practically crime free until some Trinis went to live there. Now burglaries and murders are the order of the day.That too seems to be tied to the drug trade.It is the way of the world. Unless one is a psycic, one cannot predict crime. Unless the people who know stuff speak up, some crimes will not be solved.If the people are afraid, they will “See nothing”.
I would like to see an end to the prevalence of wife murders, and the sex murders of children like Hope Arismandex and Pixie Lackan.The latter was something that was not happening until fairly recently.
PS: Canadian trini, you are not the first to question facts that I have presented. Two years or so ago I had to shut up someone when I said the word Khan means king. On his challenge, I quoted the Oxford Condensed Dictionary, volume, page, column and citation. Not another word out of him. Once,in 1986, at a presentation on religions in TnT a UWI historian stated that the Indians brought Islam to Trinidad on the Fatel Razack. I asked him if he had ever heard of Jonas Mohammed Bath, a West African sultan, whose life is documented by Dr. Carl Campbell, also of UWI. He did not forgive me for forcing him to revise his previous presentation. That was quoted in the papers at the time.
Too many ignoramusses try to revise history to suit their convenience, and hate being caught out.
The Mandingoes who came to Trinidad as enslaved people, brought the Muslim faith to Trinidad.
Jonas Mohammed Bath is buried in the Lapeyrouse Cemetery.Campbell’s monogrph was published as part of the Journal of African studies,in 1976.
So, you going to research the Commission of Inquiry into education in TnT? I believe both the public library and UWI library have copies.Perhaps you could do it online from the safety of Canada? Try http://www.nalis.gov.tt
Mrs Edwards always turns any headline into a racial argument and all of her theories stand to only bash east indians. The mere mention of the word “indian” or ‘hindu’ by anybody on this site stimulates this woman’s ‘hate circuit’ and drives her to write loads and loads of hasty generalizations that only she knows where she got it from. Anyway, that’s her right and I guess it makes her feel better. It makes me wonder though if there’s anything she likes about east indian people. Is there any good in them? I’m also assuming when she speaks of “our people” being “tolerant to all people and religions” she really mean that. I can safely say that I would definitely mean it if i say it, but I challenge the plausibility of this statement as it relates to her. If there is anyone who seems far from being tolerant it’s Mrs Edwards.
On the issue of Manning’s resignation, if it’s anything that caused him to collapse, it’s his own arrogance. I’m also hearing a lot of Afro Trinis having this illusion that Mrs Bissessar as Prime Minister spells doomsday for them. All I can say is HYPOCRITES, HYPOCRITES and more HYPOCRITES and i wouldnt say anymore on this matter. Just follow the link to Mr. Dennis Leslie’s letter in Trinidad’s Express yesterday titled “time to bury those PNM myths” and you would see what I mean.
http://www.trinivoices.com/index.pl/article?id=296975
My dear James, go ahead, check my facts. I say where I got stuff. I thought you guys down there were tech savvy. Use the info I gave and check on the facts. Go back over everything I have written at trinicenter.com, the first being a book review of “Beyond Boundaries” by Selwyn Cudjoe, and show me specifically where I am/was wrong.If you can’t do that, stop talking nonsense.
What I say about some aspects of the Indo-Trini community can be backed up by the personal experiences of many other people, including a number of my relatives who marry them.
Mr. A. A. Mark, noted educator of a by-gone era used to say that when a person says they have x many years experience, you must ask yourself if they have lived a varied life in that time,and learned anything, or whether they repeated the same year over and over.You can live for sixty years and know nothing much, if you live in a cocoon of self denial, lies, and shutting out people of other ethnic groups.
All of the world’s learning is now available at one’s finger tips, including the great books written by people who had something to contribute to modern thought.
Indians in India, and other places, also criticize the Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, for pointing out their illogical and revisionist ways. Go read his writings. I was also priviledged to hear him lecture in person. I already knew what I knew, but he validated it. I am still wrestling with what the word truth means in different cultures and religions.Ms. Kamla had said she would not live at La Fantasie, just last week that was the topic of many posts. She change her mind already. Is she lying,or adjusting the truth? Was she just handing the people a line? Is truth absolute or variable based on circumstances? How many other truths has she told the people during her campaign, that she will adjust,not mean, or say she did not say? I await results.
After all the Indian Bashing from Ms Edwards, I think i can safely conclude that she is a Racist, and we we can do without her historical knowledge with is based solely on her bias views. She is very quick to call people names and label them as idiots. I pity her. I think she must live in a bubble with the walls of her room and has not been exposed to the real outside.
In one of her attacks on me when i made reference to the level of crime in the country, she made reference to 3000 deaths in Mexico, If she would like to give facts why did’nt she also tell us the the population of Mexico in 2009 was 111,211,789.
It clearly shows that she is in agreement with her former LOSERS that the 550 murders in the country is acceptable.. Do the math ms edwards, what is the population of Trinidad and Tobago.
Ms Edward’s ridiculous views on crime where she justifies the crime because of our out proximity to Venzuela and Colombia, What has YOUR DAMN Government don’t to curtail the drugs and lock up the drug lords. What have they dont to tail the level of crime in the country. Who are the criminal’s committing these crimes. Where are they getting their guns? How do these criminals know who has withdrawn moneies from the bank to follow them and hold them up at gun point? I would more think that crimes are committed by the undesirables from other islands who come in and blend among the people.
Well I say if the little uneducated boy on the street can find the drug dealer, why could’nt the Government with all their resourses. I would like to see an investigation into all your former Ministers bank accounts and ask them to justify the large deposits..
Ms Edwards, you never responded to my query as to the percentage of Blacks in the whole Goverment, compared to the percentage of Indians. Wake up lady if you think that Indians would’nt want a job in the Public Service.
For the first time we have seen a true coalition of individuals of all races, and let us focus on the future..and gains were made among all races. In conclusion, I would encourage Ms Edwards to exhaust her remaining years to encourage harmnony among all peoples to work for the good of the Nation and not to focus her energies on nonsensical divisive history.
May God guide and bless the New Government in carrying out the job for which they were elected.
gee i should have corrected my typos.. because of our proximity to Venzuela…… live in a bubble within the what was your Govermnent doing to curtail ……….who monies…………..
I do apologise. I shouldnt be writing this late.. ha ha ha good night all.