00:00As debate heightens over the powers and the limits of the office of the President, particularly as it relates to
00:07the power to withhold assent for legislation, Her Excellency Christine Kangaloo is seemingly weighing in.
00:14Mine was not a ceremonial aspiration. It was and remains a promise about how I will use the authority entrusted
00:25to me.
00:26I once walked the road of active politics. I know its rhythms, its reflexes and its temptations.
00:34I know how readily criticism can invite counter-criticism and how natural it can feel to answer every charge, correct
00:42every distortion and return every blue.
00:46I also know that a presidency cannot be conducted as a continuation of party politics by other means.
00:54Her Excellency did not reference any specific person or situation, instead choosing to take the opportunity to call for restraint
01:02and maturity in the political space.
01:06I said that my way would be to serve as the country's diplomat-in-chief, making the case for a
01:13better Trinidad and Tobago firmly, but without acrimony or bitterness.
01:17Three years later, the shouting has not diminished.
01:23If anything, our public language has grown harsher, coarser and more inflammatory.
01:30That should concern us, especially when such language comes from those entrusted with public authority.
01:38Because leadership gives language both reach and permission.
01:43In our current combative and fractious environment, insult too readily substitutes for argument, provocation for persuasion, and division for the
01:57patient work of bringing people together.
02:01That environment makes the discipline that I promised more difficult, but it also makes it more necessary.
02:09The president went on to acknowledge that Trinidad and Tobago currently has three female leaders at its helm, but lamented
02:18the paradox which women in leadership often confront.
02:22A woman does not have to become coarse in order to be convincing, or hardened in order to be strong.
02:30Authority does not acquire weight merely because it is exercised loudly.
02:37Another test comes when others seek to tell a woman how to do her job, or lead her down a
02:43path which, after careful consideration, she knows is not hers to take.
02:48She must listen, take proper advice, and examine her responsibilities with care.
02:54But she must also retain her judgment and decline, calmly and firmly, any path which the lawful execution of her
03:03duty does not permit.
03:04The president's comments come as one former MP has urged her to withhold assent from the special operations bill,
03:12which was recently passed in the Senate, when Senate President Wade Mark used his vote as a tiebreaker.
03:19The same was done to pass procurement legislation, after the six opposition senators and all nine independent senators voted against
03:28it.
03:28While some in the public domain have called on the president to veto the bills,
03:33others have shared the professional opinion that such an action is simply not in the president's remit.
03:40Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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