The People’s National Movement (PNM), Trinidad and Tobago’s long-standing 70-year-old political party, has drawn a firm line against public airing of internal factional disputes, after one of its sitting Members of Parliament went public with unaddressed concerns over irregularities in his home constituency.
Marvin Gonzales, chairman of the PNM, issued a formal public warning this week that the national party leadership will refuse to engage in open, public back-and-forth exchanges over internal conflicts between party members. The statement came in direct response to public complaints posted to Facebook by Brian Manning, the PNM MP for the San Fernando East constituency, who outlined a series of unaddressed grievances about local party operations that he said had not been resolved through internal channels.
At the core of Manning’s criticisms is overlapping leadership held by Patricia Alexis, who serves simultaneously as San Fernando East constituency chairman, the PNM’s assistant national general secretary, a San Fernando East delegate to the party’s General Council, and a sitting member of the party’s national Central Executive. Manning said rank-and-file constituency members have raised concerns that this combination of senior roles at both the local and national level could undermine impartial decision-making when constituency issues are reviewed at the national party level.
Manning also questioned the outcome of a recent constituency executive election, noting that an unpublicized vacant position was filled by a candidate little-known to long-standing constituency members who reportedly has close personal ties to Alexis. Local members have characterized this appointment process as non-transparent and inconsistent with the PNM’s written constitution, according to Manning. The MP further added that many constituency members have grown increasingly uneasy over the unexplained affluence of some sitting members of the local constituency executive, a concern he brought to the national party’s attention.
Contrary to Manning’s claims that the party had failed to address his complaints, Gonzales outlined the steps the national leadership has already taken to resolve the dispute internally. He confirmed that back in July 2026, after receiving formal correspondence from both Manning and Alexis, the PNM General Council convened an independent inquiry team with clearly defined, pre-approved Terms of Reference to investigate all raised issues related to the San Fernando East constituency.
The inquiry has already concluded its evidence gathering phase: the appointed team met separately with both Manning and Alexis, accepted formal statements and testimony from the pair and their respective witnesses, and ultimately submitted a full written report with detailed findings and actionable recommendations to the party leadership. That report has already been reviewed by the PNM’s Central Executive and full General Council, Gonzales said, and implementation of the report’s recommendations is already underway, with the internal resolution process ongoing.
Gonzales emphasized that the PNM, as a democratic political movement with seven decades of service to Trinidad and Tobago, has long navigated internal disagreements between members. He noted that tensions between parliamentary representatives and local constituency executives are not uncommon, particularly in the period immediately following internal constituency elections.
Rejecting calls for public adjudication of the dispute, Gonzales argued that open public exchanges of accusations and counter-accusations do nothing to resolve the underlying challenges facing the San Fernando East constituency. “They risk prejudicing the process, damaging individual reputations and undermining the very institutions upon which all members must ultimately rely,” he cautioned. He called on all party members to respect the PNM’s constitution and internal processes, and refrain from publicly debating matters that are already under formal review by the General Council.
“For seven decades, our strength as a movement, has rested on respect for the Party’s structure and processes, on allowing all parties to be heard and on recognising that our institution must remain stronger than any individual disagreement,” Gonzales said. He gave a formal assurance that the national party leadership and General Council remain fully committed to working collaboratively with Manning, Alexis, and all San Fernando East constituency members to reach a fair, lasting resolution to the current dispute.
“The Party will not be drawn into publicly adjudicating allegations concerning individual members while that work continues,” Gonzales reaffirmed. He added that the PNM has endured for 70 years because generations of members have understood that the organization as a whole is bigger than any individual or any single disagreement, and that every member serves as a temporary steward of the party’s larger mission. While differences of opinion and strongly held beliefs are inevitable, Gonzales said all members bear a responsibility to resolve disputes through fair, disciplined process that upholds mutual respect for fellow members and the party itself. “The Leadership of the People’s National Movement remains committed to doing exactly that,” he concluded.