UNC PRO’s claims on Eric Williams ignite national backlash

UNC PRO Tries to Rewrite History With His Own Perspective, Faces Heavy Backlash

On Trinidad and Tobago’s 63rd Independence anniversary, UNC Public Relations Officer Dr Kirk Meighoo sparked outrage after claiming that Dr Eric Williams was not the country’s first prime minister.

In a Facebook post, Meighoo argued that Williams only served as Premier during the short-lived West Indies Federation (1958–1962), while Barbados’ Sir Grantley Adams was its Prime Minister. He accused the PNM of spreading “myths” that distorted history and over-credited Williams as the father of the nation.

But historians, political analysts, and leaders quickly condemned the statement. Historian Prof Claudius Fergus stressed that Trinidad and Tobago only became independent in 1962, and Eric Williams was undeniably its first prime minister. Political analyst Dr Shane Mohammed dismissed Meighoo’s comments as irrelevant and “embarrassing,” urging him to focus on policies instead of rewriting history.

Former minister Stuart Young went further, calling Meighoo’s remarks “dangerous” and “dishonest,” while historian Dr Lovell Francis said the use of “pseudo-academic language” was meant to confuse citizens and undermine Williams’ legacy. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley also amplified criticism by sharing journalist Tony Fraser’s warning that such distortions risk erasing historical truth.

Across the political and academic spectrum, the consensus was clear: Eric Williams remains Trinidad and Tobago’s first Prime Minister, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is widely seen as misleading and disrespectful to the nation’s history.