标签： Trinidad and Tobago

Long-simmering internal tensions within the People’s National Movement (PNM) San Fernando East constituency boiled over into public view this week, after the local executive directly rejected a directive from top party leadership and launched a pointed public counterattack against sitting Member of Parliament Brian Manning. The conflict was ignited when Manning took to his personal Facebook page Wednesday to air a series of sharp grievances against the constituency executive and its chair, Patricia Alexis.

Within 24 hours of Manning’s public post, national PNM chairman Marvin Gonzales stepped in to de-escalate the dispute, releasing an official statement on the party’s public Facebook page that warned all party members against airing internal disagreements in the public sphere. Gonzales clarified that the leadership had already taken steps to address the specific claims Manning raised against Alexis, and was guiding the matter through the party’s established internal processes.

Gonzales’ attempt to contain the conflict behind closed doors failed, however. By Thursday evening, the San Fernando East constituency executive released its own public statement via Facebook, pushing back aggressively against Manning’s allegations. The executive noted that it normally adheres to longstanding party norms that keep internal disagreements within party structures, but argued that Manning’s actions had left it no choice but to respond publicly. It pointed specifically to Manning’s choice to name Alexis directly, repeat what it called unproven damaging claims, and push for a public judgment on a matter that was already under active review by the national party leadership, which it said demanded a forceful response.

The executive pushed back against any implication that it avoids transparency or accountability, countering that Alexis has already fully cooperated with the ongoing internal investigation, voluntarily submitted to the party’s processes, and declined to use media influence to sway the inquiry’s outcome. The executive confirmed that the national party had already assembled a formal investigative team with clear, approved terms of reference. That team has already held interviews with Manning, Alexis, and witnesses from both sides of the dispute, and has submitted a full report of its findings and policy recommendations to the PNM leadership and General Council. The executive confirmed that party leadership is currently moving forward with implementing the report’s recommendations.

In a sharp rebuke of Manning, the executive claimed the MP has only been willing to accept an internal investigation that operates on his own personal terms. “Personal preference is not proof of unfairness,” the statement read, adding that “He cannot demand due process while publicly undermining that process because it is not proceeding exclusively on his terms.”

The executive also accused Manning of reviving old, unproven allegations first circulated by the opposition United National Congress — claims that have never been validated by any public factual finding — to question Alexis’ and the executive’s collective integrity. The statement called this tactic “dangerous and profoundly irresponsible,” noting that “A disclaimer cannot erase the reputational damage caused by calculated innuendo.”

The executive reminded the public that back in November 2024, the large majority of its local party groups and the full executive endorsed Manning as the PNM candidate for the 2025 general election. “The same executive whose support was welcomed when it secured his nomination cannot suddenly become untrustworthy because it refuses to surrender its independence,” the statement said.

Turning to electoral performance, the executive noted that the PNM won the San Fernando East seat by a comfortable 5,173-vote margin in the 2020 general election. After a full recount in the 2025 contest, that majority collapsed to just 673 votes. While the executive acknowledged that broader national political shifts contributed to this decline, it urged Manning to examine his own performance as a representative and local party leader, rather than shifting blame to local party members who helped him hold the seat. “A leader confronted by that level of electoral decline should begin with introspection and not scapegoating the volunteers and officers who helped him retain his seat,” it said.

The executive pushed back on Manning’s calls for open democratic process, questioning why he refuses to allow the PNM’s own internal democratic structures and membership judgment to run their course. “Is the real concern that, without the support of the current executive he now attacks, his own political standing may be considerably less secure than he wishes to admit?” the statement asked. It emphasized that democracy does not require members to only accept a process when they control its terms or are guaranteed a favorable outcome.

In one of the most pointed segments of the statement, the executive referenced the legacy of Patrick Manning, the late iconic PNM leader and former MP for San Fernando East, who is Brian Manning’s father. “The late honourable Patrick Manning’s legacy was earned through discipline, service, accessibility and performance. That legacy cannot be reduced to a surname, nor can it be used as a shield against accountability. Heritage is not a substitute for leadership,” it read.

The executive closed by reiterating its commitment to the PNM’s internal processes: it does not claim to be perfect, nor does it seek to shield any member from legitimate scrutiny, and it has fully cooperated with the national leadership’s investigation, a commitment it says will continue. “What we will not accept, is the use of mischievous political allegations to discredit our members or divert attention from failures of representation and leadership,” the statement concluded. “San Fernando East is greater than any one officeholder, personality or surname. Our responsibility remains service to the people, loyalty to the Party and respect for the democratic institutions upon which the People’s National Movement was built.”

More than a decade after Ruth Marchan fled Trinidad and Tobago for fear of her personal safety in the wake of the explosive LifeSport corruption scandal, the nation’s Public Service Commission has taken formal steps to officially record her departure from public office, confirming a proposed effective resignation date of November 1, 2015.

A public notice published by the Service Commissions Department, shared via the official Facebook page of Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs on Wednesday, gave Marchan a seven-day window from the date of the notice to submit any formal representations on her own behalf regarding the proposed declaration. Commission officials confirmed the action is being taken in full compliance with Regulation 49 of the nation’s Public Service Commission Regulations.

The formal notice reads: “The Public Service Commission proposes to declare Mrs Ruth Marchan, Physical Education and Sport Officer 1 (Range 46), Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, to have resigned her office in the Public Service with effect from 1 November, 2015.” Prior to her abrupt departure from the country, Marchan served continuously in the role at the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.

The LifeSport controversy first erupted in 2014, when Marchan stepped forward as a key whistleblower to expose widespread systemic graft tied to the government’s flagship youth development program. After coming forward with her allegations, Marchan entered a witness protection program and ultimately fled the country, citing credible threats to her life.

In her testimony, Marchan alleges that she was a direct witness to a coordinated conspiracy between former senior government officials, contracted vendors, and organized criminal actors to siphon more than TT $440 million in public funds from the program. Last year, regional news outlet the Express obtained a full copy of Marchan’s notarized sworn statement, originally recorded in 2021 by Trinidadian law enforcement officials operating under the protection of European law enforcement agencies. In the document, Marchan details a sprawling, interconnected network of fraud, political manipulation, and state-sanctioned corruption that turned a public initiative designed to lift vulnerable communities into a multi-million-dollar criminal racket.

Originally launched under the former People’s Partnership government, LifeSport was promoted as a landmark social program aimed at diverting at-risk young men away from cycles of crime and violence by offering structured sports and life skills training. The program was abruptly scrapped in 2014 by then-Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, following the emergence of corruption allegations, with then-Sport Minister Anil Roberts stepping down from his post in the wake of the scandal.

Today, more than 10 years after the probe launched, the investigation into LifeSport corruption being conducted by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service’s White Collar Crime Division remains unresolved, marked by a trail of still-unaccounted-for public funds, multiple key witnesses who have died under suspicious circumstances, and defendants who have yet to face full accountability for the alleged graft.

A brewing standoff between Trinidad and Tobago’s Communication Workers Union (CWU) and national police authorities has emerged after a planned protest march outside the Port of Spain headquarters of telecom provider TSTT was abruptly canceled at the eleventh hour. CWU President Joanne Ogeer is now publicly challenging the sudden reversal of previously granted protest permissions, raising pointed questions about outside influence on the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) decision.

Ogeer confirmed in a voice note interview with local broadcaster TV6 that all required administrative steps to secure approval for the demonstration had been completed well in advance of the planned event. She personally coordinated with leadership at Port of Spain’s Central Police Station and the area’s commanding superintendent to finalize logistics for the march, which was intended to pressure TSTT to agree to a 10% wage increase for CWU members covering two bargaining periods: 2020–2022 and 2023–2025.

Despite weeks of coordinated preparation and formal sign-off from police officials, Ogeer said she received formal notification early yesterday morning that the previously approved permit had been retracted. With no time to adjust logistics, the union was forced to scrap the planned demonstration entirely.

The sudden reversal has left Ogeer questioning both the underlying motive for the decision and whether any external parties exerted improper influence on TTPS to block the workers’ action. She pushed back against the restriction, emphasizing that the CWU is a law-abiding organization that only seeks to exercise its fundamental right to collective action amid stalled wage negotiations.

“Why is it so important to restrict workers from expressing their right as it pertains to broken-down wage negotiations with TSTT and the Communication Workers Union?” Ogeer asked in the interview.

She clarified that while the union remains committed to operating strictly within the bounds of national law, the cancellation of the march will not end its push for a fair wage deal. The union has already activated a contingency “Plan B” for continued industrial action, though Ogeer declined to share details of the alternative strategy during yesterday’s interview.

Ogeer also noted that CWU is not affiliated with the local Coalition of Interest, a fact she says means the union’s path to resolving the wage dispute will likely be longer and more challenging than for other organized labor groups. She warned CWU members to prepare for an extended period of industrial action, telling reporters that advocating for worker rights “is not a job for the faint-hearted.”

A cloud of uncertainty has hung over Trinidad and Tobago’s national security establishment this week after Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro took unannounced emergency leave to travel outside the country, with senior government officials refusing to disclose the specific circumstances behind his sudden departure.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who also serves as chair of the country’s National Security Council (NSC), reaffirmed on yesterday that classified national security interests would prevent any public release of details surrounding Guevarro’s trip. The Prime Minister confirmed that the top law enforcement official completed all required administrative protocols before leaving the jurisdiction, adding that she received full briefings both ahead of his departure and following his return to the country.

Guevarro himself broke his silence on the matter earlier this week with a publicly released audio statement, offering a high-level explanation for his absence without revealing sensitive details. He stated that the trip was prompted by undisclosed information received on August 10 from the director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) and the head of the Special Branch. Following this intelligence, Guevarro submitted an application for five days of emergency leave to Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander, who approved the request. The commissioner added that official documentation of his leave was properly forwarded to the Police Service Commission (PolSC) as required by regulation.

The opposition has raised sharp questions about Guevarro’s sudden absence, specifically criticizing the failure to appoint an acting commissioner of police to fill the role during his time out of the country. Guevarro pushed back against these claims in his audio message, rejecting assertions that his unplanned leave created a leadership crisis within the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). He clarified that the appointment of an acting commissioner falls outside the mandate of the TTPS or the sitting commissioner, noting that the process is legally defined and managed by relevant statutory bodies.

After returning to Trinidad and Tobago, Guevarro completed required debriefings with both the NSC chair and the Homeland Security Minister, and has since declined to answer any additional questions about the trip, directing all further enquiries to the two senior officials. Both Persad-Bissessar and Alexander have refused to comment on the triggering circumstances of the leave, while PolSC chairman Dr Wendell Wallace has not responded to repeated attempts by reporters to reach him for comment since Sunday.

To clarify the legal framework governing acting appointments for the police commissioner post, the process is laid out explicitly in Section 123 of Trinidad and Tobago’s Constitution. Unlike routine administrative roles, the TTPS cannot automatically appoint an interim commissioner when the substantive holder leaves the country. Instead, the PolSC holds the constitutional authority to nominate a candidate for acting commissioner or deputy commissioner. Under subsection 3 of Section 123, the PolSC must forward the nominated name to the President of Trinidad and Tobago, after which the President issues an official notification of the nomination. This notification must then receive approval via an affirmative resolution from the House of Representatives before the acting appointment can go into effect.

This formal process was followed most recently in October 2025, when Guevarro traveled to Denver, Colorado, to attend the International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference and Exposition. For that scheduled five-day trip, the PolSC nominated Deputy Commissioner Junior Benjamin to serve as acting commissioner, with Assistant Commissioner Curt Simon nominated to act as deputy commissioner in Benjamin’s place. The President’s notification of the nominations was tabled in the House of Representatives on October 10, and parliament ultimately approved both acting appointments, with government MPs explicitly noting the appointments were necessary to cover Guevarro’s authorized travel.

Currently, the House of Representatives is in scheduled recess and is not set to reconvene until September, creating a procedural gap that would prevent the approval of any acting appointment even if the PolSC moved forward with a nomination. This context has deepened opposition questions over why the emergency leave proceeded without prior arrangements for interim leadership, even as government and law enforcement officials continue to cite national security confidentiality to avoid releasing details of the trip.

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.

Amid swirling public speculation and political scrutiny over his unannounced five-day overseas trip earlier this month, Trinidad and Tobago Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro has broken his silence, releasing a nearly three-minute audio recording to local media that defends his actions, rejects claims of institutional crisis, and pushes back against efforts to politicize his absence.

Guevarro explained that his decision to apply for emergency leave was prompted by sensitive intelligence received on August 10 from the director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) and the head of the Special Branch. Following formal protocol, he submitted his leave application to Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander, who granted approval, with official correspondence then forwarded to the Police Service Commission (PolSC) as required by regulation.

“I followed the requirements of the established process and I breached no protocols or policies,” Guevarro stressed in the recording, pushing back on narrative that frame his unplanned absence as a violation of institutional rules. While he declined to disclose specific details of the intelligence that prompted his travel, he dismissed a string of circulating rumors that offered unconfirmed explanations for the trip, including claims that he was receiving urgent medical treatment, investigating unexplained foreign assets held by local figures, or traveling to revoke visas for a list of targeted individuals. Guevarro emphasized that upon his return to Trinidad and Tobago, he fully debriefed both the chair of the National Security Council (NSC) — which is led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar — and Homeland Security Minister Alexander, and directed all further inquiries on the purpose of his travel to those authorities.

Crucially, Guevarro rejected widespread claims that his temporary absence created a leadership vacuum or destabilized the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). He noted that the force is built on a hierarchical, contingency-ready framework designed to maintain operational continuity during temporary gaps in senior leadership, with trained executive officers prepared to step in to uphold stability.

“Leadership transitions, temporary or otherwise, are not a crisis. They are part of the organisation’s design,” Guevarro said. “As for those who felt that Rome was burning in my absence, I want to reassure you that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is an institution built on structure, continuity and contingency.” He also criticized actors who have sought to manufacture controversy and politicize the situation, adding a sharp rebuke: “To those who chose to politicise the matter and attempted to manufacture scandal and bacchanal, all I will say is this, your petticoat is showing.”

Asked for comment on Guevarro’s statement Wednesday, Minister Alexander offered only a brief, favorable response: “A responsible (Commissioner of Police) who is in charge of a responsible institution giving a very responsible response.”

During Guevarro’s absence, the most senior executive TTPS officer, Deputy Commissioner Junior Benjamin, has overseen day-to-day operations of the force. Speaking with local outlet *Express* earlier this week, Benjamin confirmed that there is no leadership or administrative breakdown within the service, noting that the force has operated successfully under similar temporary arrangements in the past.

Benjamin also explained why no formal acting commissioner had been appointed, clarifying that the legal process requires PolSC to submit a nominee to the President, who then forwards the nomination to Parliament for review before the appointment can be finalized. With Parliament currently in recess, the formal appointment process cannot move forward at this time, a situation that has occurred previously without disrupting TTPS operations. “There’s no problem in terms of proper administration and leadership at the TTPS at this time,” Benjamin affirmed. Benjamin is no stranger to stepping into the top role, having previously served as acting commissioner in October 2025, and already assumed acting duties during the tenures of past substantive commissioners Erla Harewood-Christopher and McDonald Jacob.

The controversy has drawn attention from Trinidad and Tobago’s opposition, with People’s National Movement (PNM) chairman Marvin Gonzales calling for full transparency from the ruling government. Speaking Saturday following the PNM General Council meeting in Port of Spain’s Balisier House, Gonzales demanded clear answers from both Alexander and Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, pressing for details on Guevarro’s location, departure date, and the status of an acting appointment.