Daly Bread: Uncertainties of Dragon Gas and Diego Martin

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has put his political leadership of the People’s National Movement (PNM) into play, but he did so by ambiguous remarks in the House of Representatives (the House). As a consequence, there have been all kinds of rumblings.

Moreover, we are still awaiting “the further positions” on the cancellation of the party’s convention and internal elections that the party’s General Secretary promised us in mid-October this year.

Perhaps the PM will take the advice of revered PNM veteran, Ferdie Ferriera, and make a clear statement about his political future.

Adding to the rumblings was a daily newspaper’s report last week that Dr Amery Browne was tipped to replace the PM in the constituency of Diego Martin West. Browne promptly dismissed the report as “speculation at best” or “pure and deliberate mischief”.

Nevertheless, did the report end up as a piece of political kite-flying about Browne and his potential as a candidate for political leader of the PNM—if the post does become vacant?

I do not for a moment suggest that Browne himself was a party to the kite-flying, but he is currently a senator and Foreign and Caricom Affairs minister and had a previous stint in 2007-2010 as a PNM member of the House for the neighbouring constituency of Diego Martin Central.

What better time for those who fancy him politically to raise the profile of a PNM politician who, like Penny Beckles, (who in PNM town even longer than Browne) is not given to ranting at the public or talking down to us?

Meanwhile, there is new information concerning the political risk attached to the anticipated receipt of gas from Venezuela (colloquially known as Dragon Gas), badly needed to resuscitate the currently depressed energy sector.

I have tried to contribute to the understanding of political risk, particularly the geopolitical risk of dealing with Venezuela. I suggested that such risk may tilt against us because of the active links between Venezuela and Iran—two enemies of the United States and both under sanctions.

I also noted US president-elect Donald Trump’s naming of senator Marco Rubio, to be his secretary of state (foreign affairs secretary).

Rubio is well-known as a person of Cuban descent, born in Miami, and a hardline opponent of Cuba and Venezuela. As graphically stated in a Reuter’s report of 14 November 2024, he has “a consistent and strong record as a hawk on Iran, Venezuela, and China”.

Rubio is now reportedly proposing to seek to form a coalition of conservative leaders within the Latin American and Caribbean region to counterbalance the significant inroads in Latin America that China, Russia and Iran have made.

Miami Herald and syndicated columnist, Andres Oppenheimer, reported this on 15 November 2024.

Significantly, Guyana and the Dominican Republic are listed among the countries that Rubio has suggested for inclusion in the proposed group.

There may even be a link between our unsettled future regarding the receipt of Venezuelan gas and the alleged re-emergence of Browne as a candidate for election to the House, as well as his hypothetical placement in the PM’s constituency.

Will the PM want to be around to face the consequences if Venezuelan gas does not materialize to re-float our economy, which has been left very dependent on such a re-floatation?

Then there is the Diego Martin East constituency, which has been the seat of the current minister of finance, Colm Imbert MP, for decades.

The Minister of Finance has kept the Government away from the unpopularity of budget cuts, but there may be no more borrowings available to prop-up the status quo, which arguably benefits only a privileged few—including elite captors of certain contracts and political satellites—while wealth disparity has generally grown and many hard-working people and out-of-work graduates are ketching their tail.

Will the present two heavyweight PNM Diego Martin West and East incumbents return, particularly if the resuscitating power of Dragon Gas seems less likely to materialise?

Alternatively, if the PM stays, the lightweight sitting PNM MP for Diego Martin Central, Symon De Nobriga, could easily be blown out of there as may be necessary, even if he had wished to stay.

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Martin Daly

Martin G Daly SC is a prominent attorney-at-law. He is a former Independent Senator and past president of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago.
He is chairman of the Pat Bishop Foundation and a steelpan music enthusiast.