Gail Alexan­der

Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) labour re­la­tions of­fi­cer Jen­nifer Bap­tiste-Primus has tak­en a “dig” at for­mer prime min­is­ter and par­ty leader Dr Kei­th Row­ley, while an­nounc­ing that she will not be con­test­ing the post in the par­ty’s up­com­ing ex­ec­u­tive elec­tion.

Bap­tiste-Primus did so fol­low­ing last Fri­day’s an­nounce­ment of the June 29 elec­tion con­ven­tion and vot­ing, which will be done for ex­ec­u­tive posts on June 22. This was agreed to by the PNM’s Gen­er­al Coun­cil.

All 16 posts, in­clud­ing po­lit­i­cal leader, will be open for con­test.

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has said she would seek the leader’s post. Nom­i­na­tion day for sub­mis­sion of can­di­dates is June 2.

Yes­ter­day, Bap­tiste-Primus was asked by Guardian Me­dia if she might be on Beck­les’ slate or what post she would seek in the ex­ec­u­tive elec­tions. But she said she would not be con­test­ing any post.

“I would not be of­fer­ing my­self for the po­si­tion of labour re­la­tions of­fi­cer of the par­ty for the up­com­ing in­ter­nal elec­tions. Since Oc­to­ber 2014, when the Gen­er­al Coun­cil sched­uled the in­ter­nal elec­tions and an­nu­al con­ven­tion for No­vem­ber 2024, I took the de­ci­sion not to of­fer my­self for re-elec­tion fol­low­ing dis­cus­sions with my very sup­port­ive hus­band.

“How­ev­er, mat­ters were tak­en out of my hands when our for­mer po­lit­i­cal leader, Dr Kei­th Christo­pher Row­ley, shel­ter­ing be­hind the ‘lead­er­ship of the par­ty’, can­celled our in­ter­nal elec­tions and an­nu­al con­ven­tion, an un­prece­dent­ed and un­con­sti­tu­tion­al ac­tion.”

Bap­tiste-Primus, a PNM mem­ber since 2010, said, “Notwith­stand­ing, I feel very proud and ho­n­oured to have se­cured the mem­ber­ship’s con­fi­dence for the past 14 years as the par­ty’s labour re­la­tions of­fi­cer and I sin­cere­ly thank them for the con­fi­dence they re­pose in me.”

The out­go­ing ex­ec­u­tive mem­ber has thrown her full sup­port be­hind Beck­les.

“I pray God’s rich­est bless­ings and guid­ance on our Ho­n­ourable Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les. May God fur­ther favour her with the Of­fice of Po­lit­i­cal Leader and mem­bers of her team as they em­bark on a new jour­ney of re­build­ing, reimag­in­ing, re­con­nect­ing, re­spect­ing and re­brand­ing of our beloved par­ty. Great is the PNM, and it shall pre­vail.”

Dur­ing the Gen­er­al Coun­cil meet­ing on Oc­to­ber 11, 2024, Bap­tiste-Primus spoke out against Row­ley’s de­ci­sion to can­cel the PNM’s 51st con­ven­tion and in­ter­nal poll, ini­tial­ly sched­uled for No­vem­ber 17, 2024. At the meet­ing, Row­ley had re­ceived sup­port for a de­ci­sion to rat­i­fy the events at a lat­er date. Out of 140 at­ten­dees, 70 vot­ed for the rat­i­fi­ca­tion, five ab­stained, and Bap­tiste-Primus vot­ed against it. She said then it was the first time she had gone against a po­si­tion by Row­ley, but she had tak­en is­sue with his fail­ure to fol­low the de­mo­c­ra­t­ic process in the PNM.