- 2 years ago
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had a last dance, if you will, at White Hall on Wednesday. The one hour and forty minute long interview with handpicked television personalities from three Stations aired on Thursday night. Here are the highlights.
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NewsTranscript
00:00As he prepares to step away from the dance floor Dr. Keith Rowley has one
00:05last dance. A final conversation with select members of the fourth estate. In a
00:11rare final sit-down interview on the burgeoning issue of crime the Prime
00:15Minister says the longer the country takes to accept that crime is a public
00:20health and societal issue is the longer it will take to ease the effects. What
00:26we're experiencing is a societal behavioral problem and it does not
00:32respect political cycles. We have had a number of initiatives which are called
00:38for some have been successful some have not been. We have some serious
00:45compartmentalization in authority and that makes it difficult to do what you
00:51would like to do as policy and as executive. We have a lot of restrictions
00:56and I wouldn't go into the details of that maybe later in the conversation
01:02that might arise but I'm disappointed that we have not been able to do more
01:08with respect to this societal behavioral aspect of criminal conduct. Crime he
01:17explains has no regard for political personalities and while the state of
01:21emergency was one way to reduce the ill its extension will not be up to the
01:27dock. Well I would not be in the cabinet for that decision but at this point in
01:33time I think we've done enough and I don't expect that we would rely much
01:41more on that approach. And if we're talking about governance and management
01:45of the public service the Service Commission system Dr. Rowley says is
01:49something we can't have two left feet about. Here you have to go through hoops
01:56of fire and rivers of hell to try to get somebody to do the job that they're
02:00being paid to do. And I come to a point of the inappropriateness of the
02:06management of this country by service commissions because the authority to
02:11manage these people are in the service commissions and we somehow believe that
02:15we got it in 1962 it's part of our Constitution but for heaven's sake it's
02:19not working. You're not getting proper management arrangements with this
02:25antiquated service commission system but it's never going to change because the
02:29politicians don't want it to change. As Dr. Rowley makes his exit it would have
02:36been nice to kick off his shoes and opt for sandals but that project like Marriott
02:42was bogged down by a sluggish approval process. The last I heard about that we
02:48were out the approvals process was asking for some study of the ocean
02:55conditions off the coast of Tobago. The coast of Tobago is no different to the
03:03coast of Barbados, to the coast of San Vincente, the coast of Jamaica with
03:06respect to hotel and land. And even if you want to study how the drainage will
03:10go and so that's about two three months work. But in St. Vincent where the
03:15authority lie with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet they did all the
03:20approvals for sandals inside of nine months and the project was executed and
03:25is now contributing in a magnificent way to the economy of St. Vincent. We are
03:30still studying the sea cockroaches and the coastal longshore drift. And while
03:37Dr. Rowley has a special place in his heart for Tobago, his interactions with
03:42the President Farley Augustine administration has been no walk in the
03:47park. I am very disappointed in the way this particular administration has
03:53behaved because as you say under my tenure I went out of my way from day one
03:59to try to be a cooperating Prime Minister with Tobago. And when when the
04:066-6 result, when the 6-6 result came in, I went to Tobago as Prime Minister. I
04:12called them together. I sat with them at the Magdalena and I said to them see if
04:17you all could work out something. Whatever you all work out, the central
04:21government will back you and will try to assist you. They could not come to an
04:25agreement. They said you know we need to do something. The next thing we know they
04:30were fighting over something. I stayed out. Much like his tangle with the opposition
04:35leader. We have a country with structures. You go drink a rum and go on a
04:40platform and shout in wheelie wheelie wheelie. That is not what the country is
04:43to be run. And that kind of behavior has been the characteristic of this
04:51individual. And I'm surprised you all take her seriously all the time. There
04:54are some things the Prime Minister says which are unforgivable. If your conduct
04:59is such that I don't require to respect you, I just wouldn't disrespect myself.
05:04That opposition leader facing a difficult election with me as opposition
05:10leader, you know what she did? She organized for members of her
05:15cabinet and the Speaker of the House to come to the Parliament and put on the
05:20Hansard. But my father is a rapist and I'm a rapist. Put it on the Hansard. Character
05:28matters. And as the saying goes, it's not about the shoes, it's about what you
05:35do in them. Dr. Rowley has no regrets. I am ensuring that the country, as far as
05:42I'm able to, within the law of the country and the PNM Constitution, I am
05:49trying to ensure that there's a smooth transition so that when I move out of
05:54this office, that whoever moves in, that the country will not be disadvantaged,
05:59that the country will needn't benefit. And that is done within the Constitution of
06:03the country. And the same thing with the PNM, that when I move out as political
06:09leader, I don't scatter the pearls. I ensure that the PNM, if I am able to, is
06:15strengthened and not weakened. Because a strong PNM makes a strong
06:20And as he takes his last dance, the man, a geologist, who in 45 years pirouetted
06:28into Trinidad and Tobago's seventh Prime Minister, shares a few parting words.
06:33Every day is going to be a good day. This country is not perfect, but it is one of
06:39the best places in the world to live.