Trinidad and Tobago has a new Government, swept to power on a wave of public revulsion against alleged corruption, and headed by the country’s first woman prime minister, 59-year-old attorney, Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

To accomplish this feat, the experienced politician replaced Mr Basdeo Panday as leader of the United National Congress (UNC) party, assembled a coalition of opposition parties — the People’s Partnership — forced a general election by threat of a no-confidence vote and comprehensively defeated Mr Patrick Manning and his People’s National Movement (PNM).

Mr Manning, a taciturn and seemingly aloof UWI-trained geologist, became increasingly prone to grandiose spectacles during his 13 years as prime minister. Many of these events, while a source of pride to a small ambitious country, were widely regarded as extravagant. These include the Miss World Finals and the Summit of the Americas.

To Mr Manning’s credit, the economy of Trinidad and Tobago has grown without succumbing to the “Dutch Disease” which afflicts many oil/gas-rich developing countries. He presided over the deepening of industrialisation based on natural gas. There was no better regionalist, having rescued and bailed out, sometimes several times, troubled sister economies in the Caribbean Community (Caricom). The disappointment in the PNM will be exceeded only by the anguish in St Vincent, Grenada and Guyana.

The coalition, united only by its opposition to the Manning-led PNM Government, will have to maintain its unity in both philosophy and execution. The lessons are many, but foremost among them is that there is a limit to the tolerance to perceived corruption, even by a fete-loving and prosperous people. The first priority must be to restore confidence in the integrity, transparency and ethnic impartially of government.

The vote of 29 for the People’s Partnership to 12 for the PNM is also an emphatic mandate for action to control violent crime which is now a Caribbean pandemic. How crime has undermined Jamaica’s rich economic potential is not lost on the Trinidadian public. No one wants to be in the situation that Jamaica is now confronting where law and order is being openly challenged by organised criminal gangs.

The new prime minister will have to urgently address issues of political integrity, public sector financial probity and violent crime related to transnational drug-trafficking.

The new PM will have able management of the economy in Mr Winston Dookeran, the likely finance minister. He is a former university lecturer, central bank governor and former planning minister. The experienced Mr Ewart Williams, governor of the Central Bank, will be an invaluable advisor. They will have to carefully review the economic plans of the Manning Government and stabilise the financial sector after the debacle of CL Financial Group and CLICO.

We hope that Mrs Persad-Bissessar will be a stalwart for regional co-operation and will give meaning to that goal by how she deals with the trade deficit with Jamaica, the largest Caricom export market for Trinidad. Of most immediate importance will be her disposition on the Air Jamaica deal over which there is a division of opinion among Trinidadian policy-makers.