Richard Lord

Op­po­si­tion MP Dr Amery Browne is call­ing for dis­cern­ment, wis­dom and re­spect from all sides con­test­ing the Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive elec­tions.He was asked to com­ment on a state­ment by for­mer Op­po­si­tion sen­a­tor Fitzger­ald Hinds, who told a con­stituen­cy meet­ing in Bel­mont last week that a group of busi­ness­men and for­mer PNM min­is­ters have agreed that Op­po­si­tion Leader Dr Kei­th Row­ley was "too dark in com­plex­ion to be­come prime min­is­ter."

"With the anx­i­eties and emo­tions of in­ter­nal elec­tions, we can ex­pect per­sons to say any man­ner of things con­ve­nient to their cause," he said.He then is­sued a call for wis­dom and good judg­ment by all op­po­si­tion PNM teams to en­sure the 58-year-old par­ty emerges stronger in the end.Browne, who is MP for Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral, said he had not made any de­ci­sion to con­test or not con­test the elec­tions.

And for­mer head of the pub­lic ser­vice Regi­nald Du­mas said he was con­cerned about the im­pli­ca­tions of "the too dark to be­come prime min­is­ter claim."Du­mas told the T&T Guardian yes­ter­day the state­ment con­firms that race re­mains an is­sue in the coun­try."T&T is still a colo­nial so­ci­ety dom­i­nat­ed by is­sues of skin colour and tex­ture of hair," Du­mas, a for­mer T&T diplo­mat added.

Say­ing he was not too con­cerned about whether Hinds was right or wrong to have made the com­ment, Du­mas said what was more im­por­tant was the fact that the com­ment was made in 2014.In­sist­ing that the PNM has tra­di­tion­al­ly been a "black par­ty," Du­mas said the state­ment was "even more fright­en­ing" as it would mean that mem­bers of the PNM had a prob­lem with black­ness.

Du­mas, who served as High Com­mis­sion­er to In­dia, said he will nev­er for­get a state­ment told to him by "a very promi­nent In­di­an, Hin­du gen­tle­man when he was ap­point­ed in 1977 by then prime min­is­ter Er­ic Williams.Du­mas said he was told then: "Your ap­point­ment is a slap in the face of the In­di­ans."Du­mas said serv­ing the coun­try in In­dia was one of his best jobs.