Patrick Manning

Patrick Manning (2008)

Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning (born August 17, 1946 in San Fernando ; † July 2, 2016 there ) was Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago from 1991 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2010 .

Education, studies and professional activities

After visiting the Government School in his hometown, he worked from 1965 to 1966 as a worker in an oil refinery of Texaco Trinidad Inc . He then studied geology at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica until 1969 . He then worked again as a geologist at Texaco until 1971.

Political career and promotion to minister

Manning, a member of the People's National Movement (PNM) of Prime Minister Eric Eustace Williams , was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the 1971 parliamentary elections and represented the constituency of San Fernando (East) until his death. He was most recently the longest serving member of parliament.

Prime Minister Williams immediately appointed him Parliamentary Secretary. As such, he first worked in the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining from 1971 to 1973 and then on the Prime Minister's staff. In 1974 he became Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Planning and Development and the following year in the Ministry of Industry and Trade. From 1976 to 1978 he was Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Labor, Transport and Communication.

In 1978 Prime Minister Williams appointed him junior minister of maintenance to the Treasury. The following year he became Junior Minister for Public Services in the Treasury and Junior Minister for Information in the Prime Minister's Office.

Shortly before his death, Prime Minister Williams appointed him Minister of Information and Minister of Industry and Trade in 1981.

After Prime Minister George Michael Chambers took office on March 30, 1981, he was appointed Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. He held this office until the PNM's devastating defeat in December 1986, when the PNM only got 3 of the 36 parliamentary seats.

Opposition leader and rise to prime minister

First term as Prime Minister 1991 to 1995

After Prime Minister Chambers resigned as chairman of the PNM, Manning succeeded him as party chairman. At the same time he was leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives until 1991.

After the PNM's victory over the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) in the parliamentary elections in December 1991, he became Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago for the first time on December 17, 1991 as the successor to Arthur NR Robinson .

During his first term in office, Manning initially continued the realignment and liberalization of economic policy that had already been started by the previous government. In addition, the state-set exchange rate for the Trinidad and Tobago dollar was replaced by an exchange rate determined by the foreign exchange market , and several state-owned companies were sold to foreign owners. This step in particular was heavily criticized by the now opposition NAR. Although this also wanted the liquidation of the state-owned companies, but on the condition that they were sold to local buyers.

In addition, there was a domestic political crisis following the dismissal of Foreign Minister Ralph Maraj and his "self-appointment" as "father of the nation". In by-elections, the PNM lost one seat to the UNC. Maraj also joined the opposition NAR party. As a result, the PNM only had a majority of one seat in parliament. Because of this crisis, Manning called new elections for November 1995 one year before the end of the legislative period.

Second term as Prime Minister 2001–2010

In the early parliamentary elections of November 1995, the PNM again lost the majority. After handing over the post of prime minister to Basdeo Panday , Manning took over the post of opposition leader in the House of Representatives. The PNM also lost the general election in 2000.

In the parliamentary elections of December 2001, which were again brought forward, there was a tie in parliament with 18 seats each for PNM and NAR. On December 24, 2001, there was a scandal when the incumbent President Arthur NR Robinson broke with parliamentary tradition and, despite the tie with the NAR, preferred Manning to the incumbent Prime Minister Panday and appointed him Prime Minister. Since no parliamentary speaker could be elected because of the tie in the House of Representatives, Manning ruled without a parliament for the next ten months.

On October 7, 2002, Manning then again called early parliamentary elections because the constitutionally required adoption of the budget was due. The PNM emerged victorious from this parliamentary election with 20 of the 36 seats.

The second term of office was marked by an increase in crime and corruption. Prime Minister Manning was particularly accused of appointing his wife Hazel Manning as Senator and Minister of Education.

On the other hand, because of higher revenues from oil and gas sales, his government was able to lower income tax and reintroduce free education. On November 6, 2007 parliamentary elections were held again, which Manning won.

Manning stood up for the resumption of the execution of death sentences, saying "the death penalty is an indispensable part of the fight against crime" . To this end, he called for a change in the law that should speed up the revision process for death sentences. The execution of the death penalty had been de facto suspended following a ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Council of Thrones , as the committee had considered the execution of the death penalty to be “ cruel and unusual punishment ” after a prison term of over five years . Following this judgment, the defense lawyers succeeded in extending the length of the appeal proceedings until a final judgment was reached beyond this fixed five-year period, so that no death sentence has been carried out since 1999.

In the elections in May 2010 he lost to the opposition politician Kamla Persad-Bissessar .

Web links

• Biography on the Trinidadian Parliament website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ JamaicaObserver.com: Former Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning dies. Retrieved July 29, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Parliamentary elections in Trinidad and Tobago ( Memento from July 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) AFP: Parliamentary elections in Trinidad and Tobago
3. ^ ^{A b} David Greenberg, Biko Agozino: Executions, Imprisonment an Crime in Trinidad and Tobago . In: The British Journal of Criminology . tape 52 , no. 1 , 2012, ISSN  0007-0955 , p. 113-140 (115) .
4. ^ Taz.de: Indian woman becomes head of government. Retrieved July 29, 2020 .