Friday, October 23 2009

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TOBAGO TALK: PM Patrick Manning (right) at yesterday's post Cabinet press conference at Coco Reef Hotel in Tobago. Next to him is THA Chief Secretary ...

ONE DAY after unleashing political fire and brimstone on PNM Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley in Parliament, Prime Minister Patrick Manning was yesterday preaching the gospel of peace and reconciliation to his former Cabinet minister, at the post-Cabinet news conference at Coco Reef Hotel in Tobago.

As THA chief secretary Orville London sat next to him at the head table, Manning told the assembled Tobago and Trinidad media that he never fired Rowley from the Cabinet for raising concerns about Udecott, but because of Rowley’s attitude, which turned him into “a raging bull” when he did not get his way.

A serene looking Manning calmly said: “Dr Rowley is a member of the PNM. He has been for sometime and continues to be so.”As Diego Martin West MP, Manning added that, “Dr Rowley remains a member of the PNM team in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. There are issues, some of which came out in the Parliament yesterday and a few days before, but the fact of the matter is that these are challenges which have to be addressed.

We will be seeking to address them and the political business of the country continues to progress,” the Prime Minister said.

London said there will always be ups and downs in any political organisation. “There are going to be disagreements and the disagreements are going to be addressed in certain ways. One has to be strong enough to recognise that one has to remain focussed, “ London said.

“The major objectives of a political party are to ensure that the people for whom they are put there to serve, that these people are served in a way that their quality of life is either retained or enhanced. I think that in the final analysis that is how political parties are judged,” the Chief Secretary stated.