Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has again told election opponent Karen Nunez-Tesheira to stay out of People’s Nation Movement business.
He made the battle cry when he addressed a Leaders in Service meeting at the Diego Martin South Community Centre on Thursday night.
This, as the LIS team seeks to win the PNM’s internal executive elections being conducted today and tomorrow and concluding at the December 4 convention.
Out of an initial total of 42 candidates, 38 are now contesting. Four of the LIS team have been elected unopposed: Camille Robinson-Regis (lady vice chairman), Foster Cummings (general secretary), Faris Al Rawi (PRO) and Jeniece Scott (youth officer). The LIS team is up against 24 other candidates. Rowley said elections have consequences, but said he had no difficulty with any party member offering themselves.
He said he’d said “precious little” about leadership aspirant Nunez-Tesheira. Her court case to delay PNM’s election failed on Wednesday and she appealed the decision yesterday.
Taking issue with her claims, Rowley added, “Tonight I want to say something to her: if you have nothing to do and you have no money to collect and you have no curlers to put in your hair—stay out of PNM business!
“When an MP, a former Finance Minister for a few months whose only record that can survive is what was done and wasn’t done around Clico and a property tax that was not... I heard my opponent say that somebody offered her a senatorship and she refused it. I want to make it abundantly clear that whoever offered that lady a senatorship, it was not the PNM’s leader.
“Because under no circumstances did I ever consider anybody with that kind of record to be any senator in the opposition (of the PNM). And if she name woman, she must name the person who offered the senatorship!
“As far as I know, the only person who could have appointed senators in the opposition is me. And I know of no such approach not even contemplated—far less to be offered. And then you come to Balisier House to offer to be the leader?”
Rowley said when he became PNM leader, Nunez-Tesheira was just going out of office. He said among the things he met was a huge debt PNM owed, people demanding payment and Balisier House staff couldn’t be paid.
He said as political leader, he’s also chairman of the donations committee.
“...Meaning, you have to find money to run the party...”
He said he went to a party member who “isn’t without some means” and related the situation of being unable to pay staff and the person gave Rowley the support to pay the two months that was owing and for an extra month.
“If a party member would have done that, what business is that of Karen Tesheira and Kamla Persad- Bissessar?”
Another member to whom Rowley also laid out PNM’s case, promised to help—but didn’t give any funds.
“I remember driving from there to my home thinking how PNM had helped some people and I went to this man who could help and he didn’t give me a dollar.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the tears came to my eyes. I couldn’t believe that ingratitude could be so ingrained in some people, that you could have benefited so much from the PNM—and he let me leave without a dollar...”
On accusations about the Balisier House construction, he said in the last 12 years, the party had been raising money to build new headquarters on land inherited from late founder Dr Eric Williams’ days.
He said Finance had authorised the PNM to do three multi-million-dollar raffles and almost $30 million was raised.
“In one raffle, we raffled ten cars. Myself and (Fitzgerald) Hinds spent weekend after weekend outside PriceSmart and Hi Lo (Now Massy Stores) selling tickets. I want to ask Karen Tesheira tonight —that she asking where we get money from to build Balisier House—how many tickets you bought or sold?”
“And if you didn’t know we were building Balisier House, you were surprised when you came there and see it —then stay to hell out of PNM business!
“You want to know where we get money from to build Balisier House! Twelve years of work and I have to listen to other people talking about ‘she’s doing a wonderful thing, she’s defending democracy’. Defending democracy? The PNM make democracy in this country.”