debut: 2/16/17
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Nunez-Tesheira: 'Let them eat cake’ attitude doomed PNM
While the former political leader of the People’s National Movement (PNM), Dr Keith Rowley, has taken all the blame for the party’s election defeat, former PNM member Karen Nunez-Tesheira says outgoing Prime Minister Stuart Young also bears significant responsibility.Her comments come a day after Dr Rowley submitted his resignation as political leader—effective today—and Young stepped down as party chairman with immediate effect.
Speaking on CNC3’s The Morning Brew on Thursday, Nunez-Tesheira pointed to Dr Rowley’s "arrogant leadership decisions", which she believes brought the party to its knees on Monday.She said it was Young who allowed himself to be pushed into the prime ministerial role without broad party consensus, alienating party loyalists and voters.“I was inside the PNM myself. Nobody could drag you into becoming Prime Minister. Nobody could drag you into deciding that you would agree to be Prime Minister without taking it to the party for them to decide who they wanted as the political leader,” Nunez-Tesheira said.
“Nobody dragged you into taking up the position of prime minister when you very well knew that … you were not a popular choice. And therefore, there's a lot of division. It still has division right now, so that's very worrying for me,” she added.The former finance minister claims that Dr Rowley had promised Young to financiers, with Young being a willing participant in these plans.
She maintains, “He could just have said ‘No’.”“I am positive, if they had won, we would have seen that hubris and that arrogance and that out-of-touch, ‘let them eat cake’ attitude become even more and more entrenched,” Nunez-Tesheira said. “Because … they would [have said], 'You have known all our faults, the way that we have spoken to you, the way we have treated with you—and yet you have voted us back in.’ So, it's a good lesson.”
While the former political leader of the People’s National Movement (PNM), Dr Keith Rowley, has taken all the blame for the party’s election defeat, former PNM member Karen Nunez-Tesheira says outgoing Prime Minister Stuart Young also bears significant responsibility.Her comments come a day after Dr Rowley submitted his resignation as political leader—effective today—and Young stepped down as party chairman with immediate effect.
Speaking on CNC3’s The Morning Brew on Thursday, Nunez-Tesheira pointed to Dr Rowley’s "arrogant leadership decisions", which she believes brought the party to its knees on Monday.She said it was Young who allowed himself to be pushed into the prime ministerial role without broad party consensus, alienating party loyalists and voters.“I was inside the PNM myself. Nobody could drag you into becoming Prime Minister. Nobody could drag you into deciding that you would agree to be Prime Minister without taking it to the party for them to decide who they wanted as the political leader,” Nunez-Tesheira said.
“Nobody dragged you into taking up the position of prime minister when you very well knew that … you were not a popular choice. And therefore, there's a lot of division. It still has division right now, so that's very worrying for me,” she added.The former finance minister claims that Dr Rowley had promised Young to financiers, with Young being a willing participant in these plans.
She maintains, “He could just have said ‘No’.”“I am positive, if they had won, we would have seen that hubris and that arrogance and that out-of-touch, ‘let them eat cake’ attitude become even more and more entrenched,” Nunez-Tesheira said. “Because … they would [have said], 'You have known all our faults, the way that we have spoken to you, the way we have treated with you—and yet you have voted us back in.’ So, it's a good lesson.”
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