He has come to the end of the road.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has announced that he will not be representing any constituency in the next general election and will be walking away as prime minister.

The twin-island republic has been plagued by a crime wave which the Government seems unable to get to grips with. The country is now under a State of Emergency.

The Caribbean country recorded 623 murders for 2024—astonishing considering its population is 1.5 million.

The government fears that rising crime and murder will impact its tourism industry. Trinidad and Tobago attracted around 500,000 tourists last year according to official statistics.

Some Trinidadians have mooted whether the Government should turn to the incoming Trump administration for help in addressing its crime problem.

At a news conference, Dr Rowley declared: “ I will not be offering myself again to represent anyone ether in Trinidad or in Tobago. Forty-five years is a long time and I would like at this time to say thank you to all those who have supported my effort.

“Before the end of the legal limits of this term, I will resign this office and go to my family.”

Dr Rowley has been a mainstay on the Trinidadian political scene for nearly half a century and is the leader of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM).

He is Trinidad and Tobago’s seventh prime minister and has led the PNM since 2010. He first became prime minister in 2015 and then again in 2020. 

The third term always proves elusive and this will be the case for Dr Rowley. His decision comes as a surprise and any card can now play.

Trinidad & Tobago must go to the polls before the end of November 2025. Dr Rowley represented the Diego Martin West constituency.

Former senior government official Jennifer Baptiste-Primus views Dr Rowley’s decision to step away as disrespectful to the PNM and now puts it in a bind in fighting the upcoming general election.

Speaking with the Trinidad Express newspaper, Baptiste-Primus said: “The fact that Dr Rowley chooses to inform the PNM and PNM people of his intention not to lead us into an election this year and his intention to resign, I find it most disrespectful.

“It is really painful to have to swallow the fact that the political leader of the PNM has no respect for the PNM.

“We will await the outcome of his retreat but I will not be surprised by anything he does. I know the PNM has to meet in an emergency session to deal with this issue. Come on, I expect better Dr Rowley.”

Currently, Energy Minister Stuart Young is a star in the PNM and is seen as a future Caribbean leader to watch. It is said that Dr Rowley thinks highly of him and sees him as his successor and may want him to lead the party in the next general election, thus passing the torch to a younger generation.

Opposition leader, head of the United National Congress (UNC) and former PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar is urging Rowley to call the general election sooner rather than later.

“Rowley and his ministers have taken us to a failed state with a lame-duck Prime Minister and government. The Government is in chaos. Why make this announcement after calling a State of Emergency four days ago,” she said.

Last week, Our Today reported that the Trinidadian economy began staging a recovery in 2024 with unemployment falling to 4.8  in the second quarter and headline inflation at just 0.5 per cent in November.

Commercial banks’ excess reserves at the Central Bank averaged US$6.4 billion in early December.