Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has announced that he will not be contesting the upcoming general election and plans to resign before the election is called.
The general election is constitutionally due by the end of the year.
At a press conference in Tobago on Friday, Rowley reflected on a career in public service spanning 45 years. “My first job on the public payroll was to plant grass on the Hope Estate in Tobago at seven dollars a day, and then [I] taught school before entering the political arena in 1980,” he said.
He first entered politics in 1981, contesting the Tobago West seat. Although unsuccessful, he remains the only People’s National Movement (PNM) candidate to have contested seats in both Tobago and Trinidad in a general election. Over the years, he has served in numerous roles, including Minister of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources, Minister of Planning and Development, and Minister of Trade and Industry. Since 1991, he has represented the Diego Martin West constituency in Parliament.
As leader of the PNM since 2010, Keith Rowley guided the party to victories in the 2015 and 2020 general elections. He became Trinidad and Tobago’s seventh Prime Minister and the second Tobago-born individual to hold the position. Despite political challenges, including being dismissed by former Prime Minister Patrick Manning in 2008, Rowley’s resilience propelled him to the nation’s highest office in 2015.
During the press conference, Rowley reiterated his intention to step aside. “This year would be 45 years that I have been in public life in Trinidad and Tobago. I offered myself for service in Tobago in 1981 and in Trinidad in 1987, to now. And at the last election, 2020, when I announced the PNM victory in Baliser House, I said to this country, I will not be doing that again. And I meant it, and I’ve kept it,” he stated.
Rowley expressed confidence in the younger generation of leaders within the PNM. “I brought into the political area a number of young people who are still in government about to complete a second term. These people are now prepared to take the country forward,” he noted.
Addressing his future plans for his constituency, Rowley assured continuity. “We will call for nominations where I represent the people of Diego Martin West who have supported me resolutely from 1991 to now, and I will thank them appropriately and ensure that they are not left adrift,” he affirmed.
As the PNM’s leader, Rowley will oversee the screening process for candidates in Tobago this weekend during the party’s parliamentary retreat. However, he underscored his decision to step back. “I would not be offering myself as I have just said. And I would say something else: before the end of the legal limits of this term, I will resign this office and go off to my family. Thank you all very much and see you all again sometime soon,” he concluded.
