PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Former finance minister, Karen Nunez-Tesheira, has announced her intention to challenge Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley for the leadership of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) when the internal elections are held on December 4.
Karen Nunez-Tesheira“I was approached fairly seriously and not just in terms of why don’t you go up, but it came with a very rare commitment and a plan moving forward,” she told local media.”
Nunez-Tesheira, an attorney, who was elected to Parliament in 2007, but has since then not contested any general election, said although she has deliberately maintained a low profile that has kept her out of the political limelight for several years, her loyalty is forever vested in the PNM
She told local media that she has lost confidence in Rowley and believes she has no other choice because of the challenges facing the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
Nunez-Tesheira, who served as finance minister in the Patrick Manning government from 2007-10., said her appearances on various talk shows and publishing articles relating to the socio-economic climate here over the past several years also helped with the process, as she was forced to delve deeper into the issues.
“It made me very well aware of how serious our situation was from my point of view and certainly a lot of the citizens of this country, that if something was not done in relation to the leadership of the party, that Trinidad was already feeling a sense of hopelessness and I think that is where the trajectory was heading.”
She said she is not blind to the realities that exist and there are people who will not want to come out and openly support her.
“I do understand why members of his own Cabinet who probably, if they had their way, would probably say he shouldn’t be there…they don’t want to lose their job and I do understand that.
“I do understand people who are chairmen and directors remaining silent because the price, as with any government by the way, not just PNM, would be the loss of their positions and all that goes with it, so the fact of the matter is that it is a challenge.”
Rowley has been the PNM leader since 2010 and has led the PNM to successive victories in the 2015 and 2020 general elections serving as Trinidad and Tobago’s seventh prime minister.
A volcanologist by profession, he has been the parliamentary representative for Diego Martin west since 1991.
