Wajang, hooliganBy SEAN DOUGLAS Friday, April 25 2008
PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning yesterday said he fired Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley as Minister of Trade and Industry over alleged unruliness in a meeting of a sub- committee of Cabinet.
Manning hosted a much-anticipated one-man post-Cabinet news conference yesterday at Whitehall, after Wednesday’s dramatic relocation of Rowley to the Opposition back-benches in Parliament revealing his firing earlier.
Manning alleged that Rowley had behaved badly two Mondays ago at a meeting of Cabinet’s Finance and General Purposes Committee (FGP) to discuss the Performing Arts Academy being built at the Princes Building Grounds following presentations by Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago chairman Calder Hart and University of Trinidad and Tobago chairman Prof Ken Julien. Manning said the meeting became fairly contentious and Rowley requested the chairman of the sub-commitee Dr Lenny Saith to ask all public servants to leave the room which they did. Manning said he is not a member of the FGP and was not present at the meeting.
“It is my information that he (Dr Rowley) proceeded in a most atrocious fashion to prosecute a case. It has been described as a tirade and it went on for over five minutes,” said Manning. Manning said the matter came to his attention last Thursday when he told Cabinet he was probing and would soon report to them his findings.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) morning, I called Dr Rowley in to explain to him what my findings were of that investigation and to give him a chance to put over his side of the story. He categorically denied any wrongdoing, arguing that he had in fact taken issue with some aspects of the matter that was being discussed. He prosecuted a case, vigorously, and at no time did he believe he had crossed the bounds of propriety.”
Manning said afterwards, he decided to speak to some ministers who had been in the meeting, but did not speak to all because he wanted to protect the identities of those to whom he spoke.
Manning from Page 3A
“One minister’s comments was that Dr Rowley was totally out of line, his attitude was uncalled for and his attitude was unbecoming of a senior cabinet minister.”
Manning said a second minister said it was “wajang behaviour”. “A third minister described it as hooligan behaviour. A fourth minister described it as unacceptable behaviour, and the fifth minister said, “‘I took no offence’.”
Manning said he considered the five ministers’ remarks, taking into account what he called the recent “unacceptable behaviour” in Parliament by Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday against whom the Government had moved a motion that ultimately led to his suspension.
“It could not be that we reject that kind of behaviour in the Parliament, and behaviour that was considerably worse we are prepared to accept in the highest executive authority in the land, the Cabinet and its cabinet committees.
“This position was indeed put to Dr Rowley and in the circumstances I asked for his resignation which he refused to give...I did what I had to do as Prime Minister. I have terminated his services and we have appointed as Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Lenny Saith.”
Manning assured that he encourages Cabinet to have free and frank decisions, to include different points of view, and any contentious issue is sent to a sub-committee such as the FGP whose findings are sent back to Cabinet. “The Prime Minister removes himself from discussion on these contentious matters, largely to allow freer and frank expression of views.”
He said while ministers may pursue their case in a vigorous manner, what was not acceptable is atrocious behaviour. Denying any prime ministerial vindictiveness, he said he had successively appointed Rowley to the portfolios of Planning, Housing, and Trade, at a key time for each ministry, without rancour or vindictiveness.
Denying such now, he said: “Time is too short for that.”
Manning rejected the idea that the firing of Rowley had been in the works for a while, saying if that were so Rowley would not have been so foolish as to conduct his business in the way he had allegedly done at the FGP.
In the question session, Manning declined to say what had constituted Rowley’s alleged “atrocious behaviour” and declined to identify the ministers who had given him information, simply saying it was five of the seven or eight ministers present.
Manning said if he failed to curb Rowley, Cabinet would lose its moral authority to tell the national community not to behave in a lawless way.
When asked, he claimed this was not the first time Rowley had behaved in an objectionable way , and said he had been warned before about it.
