00:00Former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley invited members of the media to his home
00:04as it has been one year since he retired as the head of the government
00:08shortly before the 2025 general election,
00:11which the PNM lost to the UNC and its coalition of interests.
00:15Do you have any regrets having done so?
00:19None whatsoever.
00:22I must admit that the transition in the PNM didn't go
00:27as I anticipated that it might have gone,
00:32but that is a PNM matter which I will deal with sometime in the future, not today.
00:37And Dr. Rowley showed no regrets about the construction of the new PNM Balizier House headquarters
00:42under his leadership just four days after Prime Minister Kamala Pesad de Sessa
00:47made a bold claim in the parliament on Friday.
00:51What I'm aware of is drug money financed Balizier House.
00:55Make a statement like that and not be able to provide a modicum of proof or truth to support it.
01:03You could go inside the parliament and say that.
01:05Dr. Rowley referred to the history of the PNM.
01:08If after 70 years with over 100,000 members,
01:12we can't raise money to build a place to be out of the rain.
01:17Too bad for those who are jealous.
01:19Because you brought it up, so I'm going to ask this question to you, if you don't mind.
01:24Because you were responding to what the Prime Minister said about
01:26how the construction of the new Balizier House building was funded.
01:30Could you see how it was funded?
01:33We raised money for 15 years to take action at Balizier House.
01:4115 years.
01:43Dr. Rowley recalled that the older Balizier House had undergone repairs
01:47as he spoke about a recommendation he said was made by his first campaign manager
01:52that a new building was needed as he also spoke about the older Balizier House car park.
01:58We got an income, considerable income, from renting out that car park.
02:03That new building that you see there, there are two floors of parking there.
02:07We see that as a potential income owner.
02:10There's significant income to be earned from that.
02:13And we spent 15 years of my time aggressively putting together funds
02:22to be able to embark on the building of that new building.
02:26And another arm of the party, others did the old building,
02:29paying job and some masonry work and a new roof and so on.
02:33The former Prime Minister and former PNM political leader
02:35said the party also depended on its members for assistance.
02:39Among the things we did, we asked party members
02:43to contribute in a biopic program.
02:45You know what that means?
02:46If you could pay $10, pay $10.
02:48If you could pay $15, $20, some members helped with that.
02:52We had members who are wealthy and well-off who said,
02:54I'll help you with that, I'll help you with that.
02:56We raised money through getting permission from the Minister of Finance
03:00to raise $15, I think it was $15 million by way of raffle.
03:05But to get the money, you had to go and sell the tickets.
03:09We did that and we didn't do it in one year.
03:12There were a number of raffles we had.
03:13Dr. Rowley also gave his recollection of a debt he said he inherited
03:17when he first became political leader.
03:20You ever hear a political party borrowing money in a bank
03:22to run an election and then lose the election
03:26and then leave a new leader to pay off $4 million
03:31because of a bank and what asset all you have?
03:35You have one asset, it was by losing a house.
03:38Understand?
03:39I had to send the treasurer of the party to the bank
03:44to use his begging skills to beg off from the interests
03:48and then took years of party members' contribution
03:52and officeholders' contribution to pay it up.
03:54Dr. Rowley said there are those who speak about the party he once led
03:57who do not know anything about it.
04:00Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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