Browne denies replacing PM as Diego residents complain: Rowley left us behind

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Even as Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Dr Amery Browne rubbished rumours of being in line to replace the Prime Minister as MP for Diego Martin West, residents in the constituency say they feel they have been left behind by Dr Rowley.

Browne took to social media to dispel the rumours on December 8.

“I wish to categorically state that I have not been approached by the constituency of Diego Martin West with respect to nomination as an electoral candidate, and I have had no such conversations or intentions or ‘blessings,’” Browne said in a post on his Facebook page.

“Anything published to suggest otherwise is at best speculation or at worst the result of pure and deliberate mischief.”

Browne confirmed his statement on social media with Newsday on Sunday over the phone. He had no further comment at the time.

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A newspaper report said Dr Keith Rowley would not be screened by the People’s National Movement (PNM) for the 2025 general election. The article suggested that, based on information from “informed sources,” Browne would re-enter electoral politics and throw his hat in the ring for Diego Martin West.

Calls to Rowley’s phone and messages via WhatsApp on Sunday went unanswered.

Rowley, 75, first ran for political office in 1981, contesting the Tobago West seat. He has represented the Diego Martin constituency for 33 years, having been elected in 1991 and re-elected in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2015 and 2020.

Browne, a doctor, was first elected MP for Diego Martin Central in 2007. He was also appointed minister of social development that year. He contested and won the seat again in 2010 and was MP there until 2015.

After serving as ambassador to Brazil, in 2020, Browne was appointed senator and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

'Rowley has left us behind'

When Newsday visited Diego Martin West on Sunday, residents complained of infrastructural issues, a lack of jobs for youths and a lack of attention from Rowley.

“He don’t come down here so again,” said one resident of La Horquette Valley Road, in Glencoe, Carenage, near Rowley’s constituency office.

“Rowley is always busy, busy, busy, but see about your constituency. That is the most important thing. That is why people vote for you.”

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Another resident said Rowley used to be more interactive with the constituency. He suggested a change from Rowley might be a good thing.

“I grew up here, I know Rowley since I was a little boy.

“Rowley is a man who didn’t really do much for the community. He used to be a part of the community in the early days, when he was housing minister."But all of those things stop. I don’t find he’s present in the community any more.

“I believe he got what he wanted from us. So the area doesn’t have any use for him again.”

He said a representative for the constituency, regardless of who it is, should get more involved with youths and try to encourage youths to get more involved in community activities.

Several constituents on La Horquette Road complained about faulty infrastructure.

Ivan Patrick complained that lights installed in a savannah on the street, where youths play football and residents use to exercise, have not been working for years. He made the complaint while pointing out the Prime Minister's Glencoe home, which could be seen from La Horquette Road.

“I don’t know how many years people have been complaining about that,” he said. “Youths and children have activities there in the evenings. They need light.”

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“My sister went to report that light months ago,” another resident said. “It hasn’t been fixed yet. People are fed up reporting that light.”

Troy Pope, a resident of Point Cumana for ten years, said he has been struggling with a drain in front of his house for years, which gets clogged with garbage and causes flooding when it rains.

“Forget politics, let’s talk about people. People will deal with you anyhow they feel too.

“When poor people need help they have to beg on their knees and always be consistent behind them to get through and when you beg and beg, they might help because they don’t want people to say, ‘Look at how much times people begging this person.'”

On Schullere Street in Point Cumana, disgruntled youths said they do not care who is MP, because the MP does not care about them.

“To tell you the truth, they could send who they want. I am not voting for any of them,” one youth said.

“Because look how many youths there are in Cumana here. The government won’t say, 'Let's send a contractor and have the youths get the work.'”

But Cynthia Ryan, a 75-year-old Point Cumana resident, dismissed their complaints.

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“These youths don’t want nothing,” she said. “They will say anything. Some of them have jobs and they don’t even go to work, and they are working in the corporation.

“Some of them will sit down on the block from six-six, gambling. So when you are talking to people, some of these youths are the last ones to talk to.”

She said while she did not know much about Browne, she did not have a problem with Rowley’s representation of the constituency.

“I have never gotten anything from Dr Rowley, but he is not a problem for me.

“People like to talk him bad, but they don’t want anything. If you went to him and he didn’t help you, then that is something different.”