Justice Paula Mae Weekes, a Court of appeal judge in the Turks and Caicos Islands, has been nominated as Trinidad and Tobago’s choice to replace Antony Carmona as President of that country. If elected, Weekes will be the first woman to become a head of state since the island attained political independence from Britain in 1961.
Hope nominee is elected unopposed
“We are hoping for a unanimous process…we all hope it will be unopposed,” said Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Stuart Young, adding that Justice Weekes “heeded the call for public service and agreed when the government approached her to make herself available. She is most willing to put herself forward as a candidate and be nominated as a candidate for election to be the next President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Electoral College in Trinidad will meet on January 19 to elect a successor to Carmona, whose five-year term ends in March.
Outgoing president thanked
“We would like to thank the outgoing president whose term of office ends on March 18 with a deep sense of gratitude because anyone who takes a decision to give public service at any level to Trinidad and Tobago as citizens we should be grateful,” Young told a news conference. He stated that the name of the jurist had been put forward during a meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar.
Justice Weekes, was appointed to the Court of Appeal in the Turks and Caicos in September 2016 for a term of three years.
She becomes the second prominent regional jurist to be elevated to the post of head of state, following the decision of the Barbados government to name Madame Justice Sandra Mason as the island’s eighth Governor General last week.
