File photo – Arima MP Pennelope Beckles with some PNM MPs and officials heading outside of President’s House to greet supporters after she was given her instrument of appointment as Opposition Leader
WHEN Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles stood up in Parliament and thundered, “The Government Bench should stay out of PNM business,” I had to smile.
Because, Madam Opposition Leader, Trinidad and Tobago has stayed out of PNM business, so much so that the population evicted your party from government and left you sitting on the opposite side of the aisle wondering what went wrong.
The people of this country have been staying out of PNM business since long before April 28, 2025. They stayed out of PNM business when your party presided over record murders, soaring food prices, and hospital patients begging for beds. They stayed out when corruption allegations flew like corbeaux in the Beetham, and they stayed out when your leadership offered nothing but tired slogans and arrogant dismissals.
But nowhere was the staying-out more obvious than in the PNM’s recent internal elections. Out of 102,000 supposed members, barely 7,000 bothered to vote. That’s not participation of the great PNM, that’s a wake. That’s not a party base, that’s a party burial. Not even your own diehards could muster the energy to care. “Stay out of PNM business.” Madam leader, your own party has stayed out of PNM business.
This is no longer the mighty PNM of old, the one Eric Williams once led with vision and fire. Today, it’s a shell of itself, clinging to slogans, recycling failed policies, and hoping nostalgia can substitute for relevance. When the best defence the PNM can muster in Parliament is to tell the government to mind its business, it shows just how far the mighty has fallen.
Rest assured, Ms Beckles, we are staying out of PNM business. So is the rest of the country. That’s exactly why you’re in Opposition. And at this rate, you may want to get comfortable.
Neil Gosine is the MP for Chaguanas West and Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism. He is an insurance executive, holds a Doctorate in Business Administration, a Master’s in Business Administration, a BSc in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
