BP boss Robert Riley turned down Manning's offer to run in Diego Martin West: Warner

Jack Warner said Sunday the real reason why Patrick Manning allowed Keith Rowley to stand as the PNM candidate in Diego Martin West is because his favoured candidate turned him down.

In a media release, the chairman of the United National Congress (UNC) said Manning agreed to allow Rowley to run only when enery executive Robert Riley turned him down. Riley is Chairman and CEO of BP Trinidad and Tobago.

Quoting what he called "highly placed and impeccable" sources, Warner stated that the matter "goes beyond the running confrontation between Rowley and the Prime Minister over the Landate, Calder Hart, UDeCOTT and cleaver Heights Housing Projects scandals."

Warner said Manning agreed to Rowley’s candidacy only when time ran out on "hush-hush efforts" to persuade Riley to run as the PNM candidate for Diego Martin West.

He said the BP was "very uncomfortable" with the Manning Administration’s development strategies, "going so far as to publicly express the view that the government has no industrialisation policy; and that while there has forever been talk about true diversification of the economy forever, there is little to show for all that talk."

Warner said Riley expressed those views when he addressed the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago's (AMCHAM) energy luncheon meeting on March 24, 2010.

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He said Riley felt that the PNM government’s "outlandish expenditure on such unnecessary mega projects as the rapid rail system was misplaced, when BP and other major contributors to the economy had to face unnecessary costs for vehicle maintenance due to bad roads, and when the government could not deliver a new port to the energy sector on time."

Warner said in an effort to placate Riley Manning announced last week plans for a new port and six new highways to commence next year, with projected employment for 65,000 persons.

This was seen as an example of the "adhocracy and recklessness that characterise Mr. Manning’s management of the country’s patrimony", Warner said.

He added, "Inside sources also confirm that Robert Riley is aghast at the Prime Minister’s bizarre behaviour in the campaign and the level of invective emanating from the PNM platform.

"These factors that have thus converged to deny Mr. Manning his choice for the Diego Martin West seat; forcing him to give Rowley a last minute reprieve."

He added, "Whatever the outcome of the General Election, the PNM will not be big enough to accommodate both Keith Rowley and Patrick Manning.