Rowley won't see God's face and the PM's chair: Warner

Jack Warner with supporters outside Parliament

Jack Warner slammed into Keith Rowley on Saturday morning, saying the Leader of the Opposition has no moral authority to criticise Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and that he is the one who should be under scrutiny on the issue of confidence.

The Chairman of the United National Congress (UNC) and Minister of Works and Infrastructure was speaking in the debate on the no confidence motion in the Prime Minister brought by Rowley.

Warner said Rowley has presented himself as a "sanctimonious" politician who was eager to unveil corruption in the Manning PNM administration. However he noted that Rowley was a part of that corruption and only got his tongue after he was fired by Manning for challenging a decision by former UDeCOTT executive chairman Calder Hart to build a hotel in Port of Spain.

The MP for Chaguanas West read from Hansard to show that Rowley claimed to have told Manning since 2003 that bid rigging was taking place in the award of contracts at UDeCOTT and that Manning refused to do anything about it.

Warner noted that Rowley was silent about it for years and had he not been kicked out of Cabinet he would never have talked about the problem.

He also traced the history of the opposition rise from near oblivion to winning the election in 2010 to show the leadership qualities of Persad-Bissessar, which he noted are in contrast to those of the Leader of the People's National Movement.

Warner spoke about instances in Parliament where Rowley was unable to get the full support of the MPs in his caucus, noting that Rowley cannot even command respect within his group of 12. On the other hand Persad-Bissessar commands the respect of five parties and each has full confidence in her leadership.

He also stated that while Persad-Bissessar won the leadership of her party in a free and fair vote by members of the UNC, Rowley got his job by default. He said the former leader, patrick Manning, continued to be a shadow that caused Rowley to have diminished status and self confidence.

He suggested that Rowley's motion has only been brought at this time because Manning is sick and out of the way, so the present PNM leader is trying to assert his leadership. However he noted that while Rowley can only count on real support from four members of his caucus, Persad-Bissessar has every member of the five-member coalition fully behind her, expressing total confidence in her leadership.

He noted that there is a saying that if you live long enough you will see everything. He said in Rowley's case that won't happen no matter how long he lives. Warner said there are two things that Rowley won't see: "God face and this chair," as he motioned the chair on which the Prime Minister sits.