(Trinidad Guardian) President Paula-Mae Weekes will swear-in Dr Keith Rowley as Prime Minister today.
The announcement was made via a media release yesterday.
Dr Rowley said his entire Cabinet will also be sworn in as well.
The following is a statement from the Office of the President.
“Her Excellency Paula-Mae Weekes O.R.T.T., President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago today received the final results of the General Election 2020 from the Chairman of the Elections & Boundaries Commis-sion. Her Excellency immediately thereafter issued letters to Dr. Keith Rowley and Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar enquiring of their willingness to be appointed Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, respectively.
The ceremony to swear-in the Cabinet for Trinidad and Tobago will take place tomorrow Wednesday August 19, at 4pm at the President’s House.
Given the most recent COVID-19 protocols, and after consultation with Chief Medical Officer, the Office of the President has had to reduce the number of invitees to witness the ceremony.
Apart from those to be sworn-in, invited to attend the ceremony are the Chief Justice and his spouse, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, the Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the President of the Inter Religious Organ-isation, who will lead the prayer, and Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar MP.”
Earlier yesterday, Persad-Bissessar conceded the 2020 general election and also accepted responsibility for the party’s loss at the polls.
“You must accept responsibility for mistakes made whether you were aware of them or not, whether you had any control over them or not. And yes, some of them you make on your own – I lay no claim to infallibility. I accept full responsibility,” she said in a media release.
Persad-Bissessar was expected to host a virtual media conference yesterday at 12.30 but a media release came one hour later instead.
This concession comes more than a week after the August 10 election when the People’s National Movement (PNM) claimed victory.
In the days between, the United National Congress (UNC) has been busy with recounts in five constituencies.
The recount did not impact on the bottom line, which was that the PNM had won the general election.
In the media release, Persad-Bissessar said that the “people have spoken” and leader of the PNM, Dr Keith Rowley and his party will form the new government.
“After some days of reflection and monitoring of the progress of the election recount process, I am satisfied that the people have spoken,” she said.
She admitted to being “disappointed” with the results but wished Rowley “the best”.
Despite the congratulatory statements, Persad-Bissessar said that she shared the “grave concerns” about the electoral process.
“We remain deeply concerned, especially since the release of correspondence relating to Trinidad and Tobago’s request for independent election observers raise more questions than answers,” she said.
On Monday, the Office of the Prime Minister released pages of correspondence between itself and the Caricom Secretariat and the Commonwealth on the issue of independent observers.
During the height of the campaigning, Persad-Bissessar called for independent observers and while Rowley said he wrote to the both bodies, he did not share the responses publicly. He did say that the bodies could not afford to come to the country.
However, in those letters, the Commonwealth Secretariat agreed to absorb the costs of the visitors, but said it could not fund the cost of the 14 day quarantine period. T&T would have had to stand those costs.
“Personally, I am disappointed with the results but note that the UNC was able to achieve gains in three of the key marginal seats, which may have given us a chance at that majority, but those gains were insufficient.
“What the results have shown us is that once again our nation is deeply divided on which Party should be running the affairs of Trinidad and Tobago,” she said.
She said that the partisan views are reflected in the “bitter chatter” on social media and across the country.
“Unfortunately, the country has drifted far away from those ideals of unity. I am not prepared to fan the flames of hate,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Persad-Bissessar said that with the election over, the country must return to the “harsh reality” of putting food on the table.
She acknowledged the calls for her to step down and said that she questioned whether it was time for her to step down.
“This is not an easy job,” she said.
But after having invested in the youth, Persad-Bissessar said that she will remain at the helm to help guide and mentor the young newcomers to the party.
“We have a parliamentary team that is full of young, brilliant and creative minds. It is my duty to facilitate the development and transformation that must take place in the UNC with an eye on the future to ensure that the baton for leadership is passed into strong and capable hands at the appropriate time,” she said.
“Some observers have been raising questions about my political future and, some are keen to see me exit the political landscape”, she said.
“Having consulted with my colleagues, it is clear that running away is not an option at this point in time,” she said.