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Stuart Young SC, member of the House of Representatives and currently minister of Energy and minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, is set to succeed Dr Keith Rowley as prime minister once Rowley resigns in one week’s time, as he has committed to do.
On condition that Young has the demonstrable and current support of all his colleagues in the House of Representatives (the House)—where the People’s National Movement (the PNM) has a slim majority—the legality of his succession effected by means of an application of section 76 of the Constitution ought not to be doubted.
(via PNM.)
However, democracy has been impaired because the members of the PNM were not given an opportunity to vote on succession. Young’s appointment will nevertheless have a degree of legitimacy because a general election is merely a few months away.
If the PNM wins that election under Young as prime minister, Young will thereby gain the legitimacy necessary for his appointment.
Things can change dramatically in politics, but at the moment a fractured Opposition, handicapping itself with increasingly reckless assertions, makes that win seem likely.
I reference both legality and legitimacy as requirements for Young credibly to hold the office of prime minister because of my stated belief that those are essential requirements of proper governance.
I first set out my position publicly in January 2002 after ANR Robinson, then president of the Republic, following a tied election (18-18) purported to appoint Patrick Manning as prime minister on the basis of “moral and spiritual values”.
I did so in a letter to Manning asserting that his Government lacked legitimacy. The late Lloyd Best described my intervention as “the most seminal we’ve had in two years of enduring remonstrance”, and as “so rare in the WI” (West Indies) and providing “double reason for rejoicing”.
Shortly after this I was invited to become a weekly columnist in the Sunday Express and have published weekly in that space ever since.
(Copyright REUTERS/ Jorge Silva.)
For feelings of legitimacy about our governance to exist, given the fractious condition of our country, there has to be a minimum of acceptance that our constitutional arrangements are tolerably fair and inclusive—even though there may be a spectrum comprising vocal disagreement to resigned acceptance concerning particular decisions or outcomes.
The path for Young was not initially clear. Shortly after Rowley’s announcement of his choice of Young as his successor on 6 January, it emerged that there was no unanimity among the PNM members of the House.
A “poll” of those members reportedly resulted in an 11-9 split. Young remained vulnerable therefore to a lobby to refer the succession question to a membership convention.
Photo: PNM.
Even more potentially fatal to Young’s succession was the possibility that some of those not initially in support of him as Rowley’s successor would withhold their support when the President of the Republic was approached to appoint Young under section 76, or denounce anything they might have been pressured to sign two months earlier.
I maintained at the time that President Christine Kangaloo would be compromising her office if she was drawn into any awkwardness about the numbers in support of Young.
Things have changed since 6 January. Negotiations obviously took place and, in keeping with its enduring practice of party discipline, the PNM has closed ranks.
(via PNM.)
Moreover, the PNM leadership had to accept that it could not exclude even one of the initial dissenters from the screening process for the upcoming general election thereby putting at risk the support required to fulfill section 76. When Rowley resigns next Sunday, Young will therefore “get through”.
As we approach coronation day, the next real issue is whether Rowley is handing Young the proverbial poisoned chalice because Rowley ducked dealing with so many critical issues during his ten years in office—aggressively blaming others for our downward spiral, particularly our constant exposure to violent crime.
However that is a subject matter for another column when it may become necessary to examine how our already badly damaged day to day peace, stability and democracy may come under even greater threat if inaction on the critical issues continue.
A re-examination of these issues will be soon forthcoming.
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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.
