YOUNG’S RISE, AL RAWI’S FALL

and would Imbert damblay a political return? 

AMAZING PNM dramatics are playing out before our eyes. 

Stuart Young, who was a backroom attorney a mere seven years ago, is ascending to chairmanship of the 66-year-old party. 

Young would replace Colm Imbert, who has been zapped in intriguing circumstances and would follow such legendary figures as Learie Constantine and Francis “Boysie” Prevatt. 

If that is mind-boggling, consider the fate of Young’s riding pardner Faris Al Rawi. 

The ever-pretentious Al Rawi is on a steep slope, his political future endangered and vaulting ambition stalled. 

The entire PNM apparatus is enthralled about what that portends for the party, which is already rocked in national office by severe self-inflicted blows. 

Al Rawi may return as public relations officer, but that does not give him Young’s elevated perch or place him close enough to the throne.  

There is also the pertinent question of whether 73-year-old Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley is sponsoring Young as his successor as party leader. 

If so, would the PNM masses easily accept a just-come leader being foisted from the top? 

What about the simmering dissent that the party is moving away from its historic Black working-class base and empowering the urban elites? 

Professor Selwyn Cudjoe has echoed a growing drumbeat: “Many PNM party members are concerned about the few Black members in the Cabinet and the inconsequential posts they hold.” 

Cudjoe further groused: “They are concerned about how the party treats its Black members, the poverty among Black people, and the deteriorating conditions in which they live.” 

Rowley has dusted off criticisms and signed up for another five-year term as PNM boss, no doubt with the same bag of failed economic policies. 

Already the oldest PNM and national leader ever, would he die with his boots on, like party founder Dr. Eric Williams in 1981? 

Have Al Rawi’s hi-jinks caught up with him, or would the Arab community rescue him and insist that he remains in the dance? 

Has Imbert run his course, or would he make a damblay for a return along the powers of PNM power? 

Did Rowley tactically dump Imbert because the Finance Minister’s name is mud among the suffering working class? 

After all, “Imbert HYMC” is the most damning political indictment since 2010’s “Do So.”  

Imbert is the politician everyone loves to hate, as much for his policies as for his ingrained arrogance. 

In addition, there are eager-beaver old guards like Fitzgerald Hinds and Camille Robinson-Regis with an appetite for power and a vested interest in the party’s future. 

Emerging young Turks, such as Foster Cummings and an array of councillors and Youth League hopefuls, are seeking to climb up the PNM stairs and land into cushiony national office. 

These and other relevant factors place the PNM at crossroads, at a time when there are indicators of a weakening strongman leader. 

“Tables turning, sah,” calypsonian Explainer sang, and people neatly within the bosom of the party are grousing about the oppressive conditions in which the underclass exists. 

As they see the rich get richer, PNM soldiers are pointedly asking in what ways Rowley’s stewardship has assisted the downtrodden. 

It is not the PNM’s culture to make public brouhaha, but in quiet conversations, they recall how Rowley defied Patrick Manning on corruption and overall management of the society. 

They point to Rowley’s about-turn on Property Tax, especially at a time when the poor man is finding it increasingly difficult to put food on the table. 

Against that backdrop, there is keen interest in the evolving PNM leadership and dark fears among the faithful that a united and credible opposition could torpedo their party. 

Rowley clearly does not appreciate the political moment. 

He does not feel the hurt of the common man – and his wild uttering suggests he does not appear to care. 

As far back as mid-2020, Professor Cudjoe aired concerns about meteoric Young’s rise above party stalwarts with close ties to the ground. 

“In spite of (Robert) Le Hunte’s stellar professional career,” Cudjoe wrote, he was “discarded like a piece of dirty paper to make room for Young’s ambition.”   

Cudjoe – like many others – gripes that Rowley “acts as he chooses.” 

On top of his heap of party and national problems, Rowley would have a hard sell with the haughty Young, who has received political manna from heaven without even breaking a sweat. 

Would Young’s swift rise to the political mountaintop be another yoke on Rowley’s back? 

Do Al Rawi and Imbert have other cards up their sleeves? 

Would the long-suffering Black masses, and those who are quietly pulling their strings, permit their party to go astray and lose national office? 

Tables turning, sah!