A Critique of ​T&T's PNM leader Penny Beckles

In the unfolding political drama of Trinidad and Tobago, Penny Beckles stands out, not as a leader of vision, but as a figure embodying troubling political nirvana. Her recent posturing suggests a deliberate attempt to obscure the PNM’s decade-long record of economic and social decline. It appears she believes the electorate has either forgotten or forgiven this turbulent history. However, the undeniable remnants of that period are not so easily erased.

Beckles’s rhetoric is predictable and alarmingly hollow. Each declaration seems crafted to rewrite the narrative of the PNM’s governance, avoiding any real self-reflection or admission of failure. Instead, her approach is steeped in revisionism, attempting to sanitize a legacy marked by significant shortcomings. Under the PNM, we witnessed economic contraction, dwindling fiscal reserves, and an alarming rise in violent crime. Essential institutions, healthcare, water services, and infrastructure were left to languish in neglect. These are not just partisan accusations; they are substantiated realities that defined years of mismanagement.

What makes Beckles’s current stance especially dissonant is her previously silent complicity. As the PNM presided over institutional decay, she chose to remain quiet, absenting herself from the discourse around necessary reforms. This silence now casts a long shadow over her newfound indignation, making her calls for accountability ring hollow to citizens who have suffered through water shortages, stagnant wages, and crumbling public services.

Beckles’s political strategy appears to hinge on selective denial and performative outrage. By positioning the PNM as a misunderstood caretaker of a complex era, she diminishes the lived realities of countless citizens who endured hardship under her party’s governance. Her tactics are not just misguided; they reflect a profound disrespect for the electorate. By framing robust criticism of the PNM as mere political opportunism, she attempts to invalidate the genuine frustration and suffering experienced by the public.

The electorate is no longer a passive audience to be gaslit. Their collective memory, forged from years of hardship, stands as a stark reminder of the PNM's failures. Rolling blackouts, underfunded hospitals, job scarcity, and eroded civic trust are impossible to wish away with rhetorical flourishes. To suggest otherwise is not only insulting; it is a blatant dismissal of the lived experiences that have shaped public sentiment.

What Trinidad and Tobago desperately needs is not the theatrics of denial, but a frank reckoning with its past. The nation deserves leadership grounded in authenticity and accountability, devoid of hollow performances. Until figures like Beckles confront the PNM’s legacy with the honesty it demands, their appeals to leadership will continue to sound like empty repetition rather than the vision the country so desperately requires.

As political narratives are crafted and reshaped, we must insist on a discourse that acknowledges the full truth of our history. Only then can we hope to restore trust and pave the way for meaningful progress. Beckles’s current approach, if left unchecked, threatens to perpetuate a cycle of denial that the country can ill afford.

Sarge

Beckles’ blunder

...The opposition leader ends her motion before arguing

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles yesterday made an embarrassing mistake, as a result of which she denied herself the opportunity to present her case on a private motion that she filed in the House of Representatives. It called on the House to condemn the ­inflammatory statements of the Prime Minister on the issue of T&T relations involving Venezuela and to call upon the Government to reaffirm this country’s commitment to Caricom and to the upholding of international law.

Beckles presented the motion but failed to present her argument in support of it because after reading the motion, she uttered, “I beg to move”—a phrase that signals the person has completed his/her presentation. The government members picked up on the error immediately and called for her contribution to be prematurely concluded. But the government members were not prepared to ignore the slip. When the House resumed, Singh said he had no discretionary power. The motion was then seconded, and Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal spoke.

“Mr. Speaker,” he said, “it is remarkable that a Member with decades of experience in the House would crumble and collapse on the first private motion in the 13th Parliament. I was eagerly awaiting the defence of this motion. And I became more anxious when I took note that the podium was placed in front of her to give us that eloquent presentation on these recitals before us.“ But Mr. Speaker, the rules are the rules, and we abide by the rules of the House. To do otherwise would really leave us in a position where we open the floodgates, and then we can choose later to breach every single rule...

Russian trolls have nothing to fear from this trini troll

internet safe

still in Opposition mindset eh?

@Halliwell

. Not really showing the stupidity of your party...😎

@Halliwell

He has nothing to say about the continued scourge of murders in spite of a perpetual state of emergency ( his leader's crime plan).

UNC Still only studying PNM. It will be their playbook for the next 4 years , "is PNM fault" we can't fix PNM thing in 5 years .. lol Any positive outcomes from the previous decade, they take credit for. , anything negative they blame the previous regime.

No surprise. It's a culture of dishonesty and deception. Sad to see.

The gist of this thread shows errors of the PNM. No one refutes such but makes comment about the UNC... I made a thread after one hundred days. I wrote I will post another after 18 months on crime and two years on the economy. The government was left with 140 billion in debt; it will take 14 billion to service such from a budget of approximately 50 billion plus... Less than 6 billion in HSF... Government entities haven't completed audits for nearly a decade. How can one plan for recovery? ...

No comment about such things, huh!!!!

What can one say about murders... The last government started the SOE after saying they will not!!!...how they forget!!!

The stupidity of the opposition posters... See why I ignore them... 😡 😡Rowley blamed the UNC for a decade...

 The country’s murder toll for the year so far to 334 compared to 559 for the corresponding period last year.

@sgtdjones

Nice post mate,I sometimes wonder whether PNM supporters ever think that the PNM ever did any wrong ,they totally messed up everything over the last 10 years and yet are behaving like they were robbed,they never thought their asses would be kicked,it was sweet."Rowley now passes time yearning for national attention via erratic rants posting on Social Platform.The effect of which is a source of embarrassment to his fellow PNMites".I noted how friendly he is with Ralph Gonzales,they suit each other,I hope the TT government investigate the 3 apartments that Gonzales and his 2 children got at cut price.

This is the weakest PNM I have ever known they don't know if they are coming or going.