A NEW president of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago will be elected on January 20, 2023.
While no statement has been made by sitting President Paula-Mae Weekes or the Office of the President (OTP), a notice in the T&T Gazette on December 23, 2022, from Speaker of the House of Representatives and chairman of the Electoral College, Bridgid Annisette-George, has stated that:
“In accordance with section 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, it is hereby announced that an election for the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago shall be held on Friday 20th January 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 20th January 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) is delivered to the Speaker at least seven (7) days before the election.”
The Office of the President could not be reached yesterday but a source close to President Weekes’ camp said the country’s first woman president had “always made it clear that she would not be serving a second term”.
She is the country’s sixth president, following Sir Ellis Emmanuel Innocent Clarke (September 24, 1976 – March 19, 1987), Noor Mohamed Hassanali (March 20, 1987 – March 17, 1997), Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson (March 18, 1997 – March 16, 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 Justice of Appeal in T&T and The Turks and Caicos Islands. She entered the presidential scene on March 19, 2018, as the first woman in the chair and Commander-in-Chief of T&T’s Armed Forces.
Opposition Leader and former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar became T&T’s first woman PM in 2010 and served until 2015.
Weekes was at the time the only candidate nominated and became the second woman head of state after T&T’s former monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, 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.
Upon her retirement Weekes was invited to join the Appellate Bench of the Judiciary of The Turks and Caicos Islands and, on her assumption in September 2016, became the first woman to serve in that capacity. She resigned in January 2018 ahead of her nomination for the T&T presidency.
President Weekes represented T&T at the former British monarch’s funeral later in September.
Public wary
Whatever commentary was made on social media yesterday, as news spread that she was to vacate President’s House in Port of Spain, seemed to indicate that most people were disinterested or wary of a replacement.
Several people made comments such as “what is really the role of the president” and “time to have a more active presidential system”.
Several people said they felt the role of the president had become constitutionally outdated and represented “a figurehead”.
Others criticised the President for “not acting” on behalf of the country especially as crime levels rise, while others defended the President as “having her hands tied by the system”.
President Weekes has often been criticised by members of the public for perceived silence or inaction on national issues but has several times outlined the constitutional boundaries within which she must act.
In October, she took public “picong”, after addressing the opening of the Divali Nagar and stumbling over several Hindi words.
The President was knocked for apparently failing to pre-read her speech and for being unfamiliar with terms of Hinduism in a multicultural society. Some defended President Weekes, stating that the words – including the Sanatanist, Arya Samaj, Kabir Panth and Ramanandi Sampradaya denominations – were not common.
The President’s social media pages did yesterday not reflect news of her impending leave, including Weekes’ personal Facebook page which features as a profile photo the Bible quote, “Leave the presence of a fool for there you do not find words of knowledge, Proverbs 14:7.”
In her Christmas message to the nation, President Weekes called on people to continue to spread hope, peace, joy and love long after Christmas.
President Weekes’ first true public controversy followed questions over the public figures at a private meeting at the Office of the President, which later became central to accusations she had facilitated interference in the selection process of a Commissioner of Police in 2021.
She was asked to clarify whether Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley had met with her and former Police Services Commission (PolSC) chairman, Bliss Seepersad, over 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 filed a motion in the Parliament pursuant to Section 36 of the Constitution, seeking the establishment of a tribunal to investigate the removal of the President in respect of the collapse of the PolSC and the aborted process of appointing a Police Commissioner.
She eventually defended her office in a paid advertisement, which stated that the PolSC had delivered an Order of Merit List for a substantive Police Commissioner on August 11, 2021, but withdrew it on the same day.
President Weekes’ statement didn’t 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 confirm that an Order of Merit List in respect of the Commissioner of Police was delivered on August 11, 2021, to the OTP and withdrawn almost immediately thereafter that day,” Weekes had stated, adding: “I, therefore, had no list from which a Notification could issue. To date, no other list has since been submitted. The OTP has been advised that the recruitment and selection process for the Office of Commissioner of Police has not yet been completed.”
President Weekes had denied any political interference or breach of the separation of powers and, in September 2021, said while she was concerned about a then imbroglio between Griffith and the PolSC, there was nothing the OTP could do about it.
President Weekes also this year was again under scrutiny by the Opposition United National Congress (UNC), this time being questioned as to whether she was involved in the granting of amnesty to former State witness, attorney Vincent Nelson.
Nelson has accused former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi of reneging on an indemnity agreement, in the State’s now-collapsed corruption case against former AG under the People’s Partnership, Anand Ramlogan, and former senator, attorney Gerald Ramdeen. Nelson has since sued the State for over $100 million.
Persad-Bissessar has said President Weekes must answer as to whether she signed the indemnity agreement as is required by law and, if so, is contending that the President had again brought the OTP into disrepute.
She, however, in her address to the opening of Parliament in September 2022, called on the Government and Opposition to advocate for a different approach and to “put aside animosity and embrace collaboration”.