Column: The Rowley factor is a PNM albatross

Patrick Manning is campaigning on his integrity, urging everyone to re-elect him on that basis.

It's a long time since President Robinson inflicted Manning on an unsuspecting population on Christmas Eve 2001, declaring that the nation needed a government of spirituality and morality.

More than eight years later, Manning has failed to show that he fits that mould through his personal behaviour in office and his government's programs and policies, although if you listen to him you would hear otherwise.

On Saturday night he was knocking down the UNC/COP alliance as a farce while boasting about what he and his government had done for the country, pointing out that it was all done "integrity".

And he has also been wearing his religious beliefs on his sleeve, suggesting as Robinson did in 2001, that the UNC would deprive the population of spirituality.

Here's what Manning had to say when he addressed supporters the day after parliament was dissolved: "Don't put God out of your thoughts by putting them back in office."

The "them" he spoke of was the opposition United National Congress (UNC) led by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, a woman who makes it her business to put "God in front" while she walks behind.

And Manning has been speaking of integrity using the propaganda that worked for him in 2001, calling the Panday administration the "most corrupt" ever in the country.

Perhaps it is time for a reality check.

By his own admission, Manning is the most "vilified" prime minister in the country. And for good reason. The UDeCOTT scandal alone justifies the label, especially his staunch defence of former UDeCOTT boss Calder Hart while he was aware of a police investigation of Hart.

But wasn't it Keith Rowley who called the Manning regime the most corrupt ever, saying it was even "more corrupt than the UNC"?

And didn't Rowley promise that the next election in Trinidad and Tobago would be the UDeCOTT election with PNM corruption front and centre?

And what about the continuous attacks on Rowley by Manning and his colleagues, painting the former minister as corrupt? UNC chairman Jack Warner dealt at length with the issue on Friday night when he said Manning has to answer some questions about that.

Read the story: Warner questions Rowley's nomination as PNM candidate

So here is the most important question.

If indeed Rowley was and continues to be so corrupt that the government has launched investigation after investigation (the latest announced when the Attorney General when he laid the Uff report in the Senate) how can Manning speak of integrity today when the same Rowley is a candidate for the PNM in the May 24 general election?

Rowley, the "waajang" and the "raging bull" whom Manning had to tolerate for 12 years, is now acceptable. And Manning talks about integrity!

Here's what Manning told Parliament: "The minute you oppose my good friend (Rowley), he gets very, very angry. And if you oppose him strongly, he becomes a raging bull...You don't know the trouble I have seen. I have had to live with that for 12 years."

Manning was raging mad after Rowley had appealed to his party and the nation to fight PNM corruption. His mission, Rowley told Parliament, was to break the mould of corruption in the PNM.

Read the story: Manning calls Rowley "a raging bull"; defends UDeCOTT

And what of Rowley the candidate?

Is the PNM administration that he described as "more corrupt than the UNC" suddenly sanitized and purged of corruption?

On what basis can the candidate for Diego Martin West honestly campaign and ask the people of Trinidad and Tobago to reinstate the regime that he has fought for so many months as being the most corrupt ever?

The Rowley factor is the one every voter should use as the measure to determine the integrity of the governing PNM.

It is one issue that demonstrates the hypocrisy in the PNM and Manning's false commitment to integrity and good governance.

For the PNM, Rowley had become a pariah for daring to speak out against what he saw as corruption. Not nominating him, however, was the lesser of the two evils for the PNM.

Had he been rejected he would have been free to continue his attacks on Manning and the PNM while remaining loyal to the party. That would have been bad news during an election campaign.

Now that he has been readmitted to the "tribe" the party has effectively muzzled him, hoping that a gullible electorate would buy the Manning and PNM hypocrisy.

Manning cannot have it both ways. Neither can Rowley. The people have a clear choice on May 25.

The PNM will try to sweep corruption under the rug, continue to boast of spirituality and morality and try to delude the population into believing that Manning is a saint who has been a victim of misinformation and sabotage.

If he succeeds, the population will have itself to blame, because in the final analysis a people get the government it deserves.

Jai Parasram - Toronto, April 18, 2010