A new president of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago will be elected on January 20, 2023.
While no statement has been made by Speaker Paula-Mae Weeks or the Office of the President (OTP), an announcement in the T&T Gazette on December 23, 2022, by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Electoral College chairman, Bridgid. Annisette-George, has said that:
“In accordance with Article 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, notice is given that the election for the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago will be held on Friday January 20, 2023.
“A meeting of the Electoral College, established under section 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, shall be convened on the said Friday, January 20, 2023, when a President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago shall be elected.”
The notice further advised that:
“A person shall not be a candidate for election as President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago unless nominated for election by a nomination paper which – (a) is signed by the candidate and by twelve (12) or more members of the House of Representatives; and (b) submitted to the Speaker at least seven (7) days before the election.”
The President’s office could not be reached yesterday, but a source close to President Weeks’ camp said the country’s first female president had “always made it clear that she would not serve a second term”.
She is the sixth president of the country, after Sir Ellis Emmanuel Innocent Clarke (24 September 1976 – 19 March 1987), Noor Mohamed Hassanali (20 March 1987 – 17 March 1997), Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson 18, 199 16 March 2003), George Maxwell Richards (March 17, 2003 – March 18, 2013), who are all deceased, and Justice Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona, who served from March 19, 2013 – March 18, 2018.
The President is a retired Judge of Appeal in T&T and the Turks and Caicos Islands. She entered the presidential scene on 19 March 2018 as the first woman in the chair and Commander-in-Chief of the T&T Armed Forces.
Opposition leader and former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar became T&T’s first female prime minister in 2010 and served until 2015.
Weeks was at the time the only candidate nominated and became the second female head of state after T&T’s former monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on 8 September 2022.
She joined the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as State Counsel I in November 1982 and retired from the judiciary in 2016 after two decades of service.
After her retirement, Weeks was invited to join the Appellate Panel of the Turks and Caicos Islands Judiciary and, upon her assumption in September 2016, became the first woman to serve in that capacity. She resigned in January 2018 prior to her appointment to the presidency of T&T.
President Weeks represented T&T at the funeral of the former British monarch later in September.
Careful public
Whatever comments were made on social media yesterday as news spread that she would be vacating the President’s House in Port of Spain, it seemed to indicate that most people were not interested in or caring about a replacement.
Some people made comments such as “what is the role of the president really” and “time to have a more active presidential system”.
Some people said they thought the role of the president was constitutionally outdated and represented “a figurehead.”
Others criticized the President for “inaction” on behalf of the country, especially when the level of crime increases, while others defended the President that “his hands were tied by the system”.
President Weeks has often been criticized by members of the public for silence or perceived inaction on national issues, but has repeatedly outlined the constitutional boundaries within which she must act.
In October, she publicly took the “picong” after addressing the opening of Divali Nagar and stumbling over some Hindi words.
The president was slammed for apparently failing to read her speech beforehand and for being unfamiliar with the terms of Hinduism in a multicultural society. Some defended President Weeks, stating that the words – including the denominations Sanatanist, Arya Samaj, Kabir Panth and Ramanandi Sampradaya – were not common.
The President’s social media pages yesterday did not reflect news of her impending departure, including Weeks’ personal Facebook page, which features as a profile picture the Bible quote, “Leave the presence of a fool, for there you find no word of knowledge, Proverbs 14:7.”
In her Christmas message to the nation, President Weeks called on people to continue spreading hope, peace, joy and love long after Christmas.
Shadows in
The President’s House
President Weeks’ first real public controversy followed questions about public figures in a private meeting in the Office of the President, which later became central to allegations that she had facilitated interference in the 2021 Police Commissioner selection process.
She was asked to clarify whether Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had met with her and former Police Services Commission (PolSC) chairman Bliss Seepersad regarding the reappointment of former CoP Gary Griffith to the position.
Griffith was replaced by the current acting CoP, McDonald Jacob.
Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar later tabled a motion in Parliament in accordance with Article 36 of the Constitution, requesting the creation of a court to investigate the removal of the President in connection with the collapse of the PolSC and the interrupted process of appointing a police. Commissioner.
She eventually defended her office in a paid advertisement stating that the PolSC had submitted an Order of Merit list for a Police Commissioner on August 11, 2021, but withdrew it the same day.
President Weeks’ statement did not explain why the list was withdrawn, but the President had said she would not address the question of who came to the Office of the President.
“I can confirm that an Order of Merit list relating to the Commissioner of Police was submitted to the OTP on August 11, 2021 and withdrawn almost immediately after that date,” Weeks said, adding: “Therefore I had no list from which a Notice may be issued. So far no other list has been submitted since then. The OTP has been informed that the recruitment and selection process for the Police Commissioner’s Office has not yet been completed.”
President Weeks had denied any political interference or breach of separation of powers and, in September 2021, said that while she was concerned about a then-current dispute between Griffith and the PolSC, there was nothing the OTP could do about it.
President Weeks this year was again under the scrutiny of the opposition United National Congress (UNC), this time being asked if she was involved in granting amnesty to former state witness, lawyer Vincent Nelson.
Nelson has accused former Attorney-General Faris Al-Rawi of rejecting a plea deal in the now-collapsed state corruption case against former AG under the People’s Partnership, Anand Ramlogan, and former senator, lawyer Gerald Ramdeen. Nelson has since sued the state for over $100 million.
Persad-Bissessar has said that President Weeks must answer whether she signed the indemnity agreement as required by law and, if so, is claiming that the President brought the OTP back into disrepute.
She, however, in her speech at the opening of Parliament in September 2022, called on the government and the opposition to advocate for a different approach and to “put aside hostility and embrace cooperation”.
