A routine special statutory meeting at Trinidad and Tobago’s Siparia Borough Corporation devolved into shouting, personal insults, and a mass walkout on Thursday, as bitter partisan tensions over committee leadership selection boiled over into open conflict.
The confrontation centers on long-simmering political shifts that have shifted control of the borough to the governing People’s National Movement (PNM). In recent months, two former United National Congress (UNC) members – ex-alderman Victor Roberts and Siparia West/Fyzabad councillor Jason Ali – crossed the floor to join the PNM, and the passing of sitting UNC councillor Romona Victor cemented the PNM’s new majority in the chamber. Thursday’s meeting was convened for the core purpose of selecting chairs and members for all of the corporation’s internal committees, a routine post-shift restructuring that quickly turned contentious.
PNM councillors won every single chair position for the four statutory standing committees, covering key portfolios including finance, planning, resource allocation, personnel, public health, and physical infrastructure. When the meeting moved to select leadership for non-standing committees, Mayor Doonath Mayrhoo introduced a formal guidance letter from Rural Development and Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen, the corporation’s line minister, to resolve a long-standing ambiguity in the body’s Standing Orders.
Ameen’s letter addressed the open question of whether non-standing committee chairs are selected by the Mayor or appointed via full council vote, grounding her interpretation in Section 68(1) of the Municipal Corporations Act and Standing Order 47, which grants the Minister authority to resolve ambiguities in procedural rules. Her ruling clarified that selection of all non-standing committee and subcommittee chairs falls exclusively to the Mayor, with no requirement for council approval, ratification, or input. Any council resolution seeking to override this power, Ameen noted, would be inconsistent with existing rules and legally invalid.
This interpretation was immediately rejected by Roberts, who stated he had no confidence in either the Minister’s ruling or the advice of Ministry legal director attorney Rondell Donowa, who attended the meeting at the CEO’s request on the Minister’s direction to provide clarifications. When Mayrhoo attempted to invite Donowa to address the chamber to explain the legal basis for the guidance, PNM alderman Christopher Encinas blocked the move, saying the council did not recognize Donowa’s authority to offer input in the meeting, despite holding him in personal high regard.
PNM councillors then requested access to the full text of Ameen’s letter to seek independent legal advice, before Encinas unilaterally announced an adjournment and called on his fellow PNM representatives to exit the chamber. Before the walkout, Roberts had already attempted to introduce a motion to bar both Donowa and journalists from the meeting, a move blocked by corporate secretary Amirah Mohammed, who confirmed the Mayor holds full authority to allow both parties to attend, and that the meeting was legally open to the public.
As the PNM group prepared to leave, the confrontation erupted into open personal insults between Mayrhoo and Roberts. Roberts accused the Mayor of bullying and indiscipline, declaring Mayrhoo unfit to hold his position and calling on the PNM delegation to exit. Mayrhoo shot back with scathing personal remarks, labeling the PNM group a “set of failures” that deserved their 2020 general election defeat and predicting another loss in the upcoming local government elections. He went on to label Roberts a traitor who had been appointed by the UNC, saying the PNM was using him as a “doormat” and had refused to give him a committee chair position despite his defection.
The bitter confrontation is the latest flashpoint in tensions over Roberts’ party switch. Roberts resigned from the UNC last year and confirmed his defection to the PNM after appearing at the party’s 2023 sports and family day event. In May of this year, multiple UNC members held public demonstrations outside the corporation calling for Roberts to resign his seat. After the walkout, Mayrhoo reaffirmed his commitment to keeping the corporation operational, saying he would continue to stand up for the interests of the Siparia borough and maintain governance. The walkout leaves the committee selection process unfinished, with no clear timeline for reconvening the meeting to resolve the procedural deadlock.