Jack Warner: Why the silence of civil society when Rowley attacks senate president?

Jack Warner has criticised Keith Rowley for his attack on the President of the Senate, who is constitutionally required to act as President of Trinidad & Tobago in the absence of the president.

Rowley has said that an active politician should not hold such a post and he made specific reference to Senate President Timothy Hamel Smith who was acting president when Rowley delivered a petition to the office of the president with respect to the Section 34 matter.

Rowley suggested that Hamel Smith acted as a "rubber stamp" for the prime minister. The Senate president is a member of the Congress of the People (COP), one of the members of the government coalition.

In a media release the chairman of the United National Congress asked why civil society is silent in the face of "the most direct attack ever against not only the character of a holder of the office of Acting President and President of the Senate but to the Office of the President itself, this time by the leader of the PNM?"

He called the silence by groups that have been "spitting fire and brimstone" in the past weeks "sanctimonious hypocrisy".

He said those same voices scream for blood when people in government make statement but when "their political co-conspirator, Dr Keith Rowley, does worse" they remain silent. 

He mentioned the Joint Trade Union Movement, FITUN, the Joint Consultative Council, the MSJ and all the other "so-called independent civic organizations" that he said "see nothing wrong" when Rowley goes on the attack.

"They put away their moral compasses and they zip their lips. Where have all the commentators, scribes and political analysts gone?" the UNC chairman asked.

"Dr Rowley’s frontal attack on the personal integrity and character of Senate President and Acting President Roger Hamel-Smith is not atypical of his reputation as a bully. 

"His former leader told us of Rowley: “The minute you oppose my good friend, he becomes a raging bull!” He spews hate, bitterness, acrimony and animosity and becomes completely out of control. "And that is exactly what we saw from Rowley on Thursday night. The Acting President disagrees with Rowley’s point of view and Rowley’s response is to go berserk, to malign the Acting President, to bring the Office of the President into disrepute and to attack the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago. 

"Rowley, in one breath talks about infringement on the Constitution, but in the other he stomps his muddy feet all over it. It is very much like Satan himself correcting sin!" Warned declared. 

He said all of a sudden Rowley sees urgent need for Constitutional Reform yet he had no such interest in the matter when the UNC and the public appealed for more than a decade for reform of the constitution to give more equitable representation to the various sectors of society.

Warner asked, "Where was his anguish when the PNM instituted a limited State of Emergency to lock up a sitting Speaker of the House to prevent her from performing her parliamentary functions – an attack not only against the Speaker herself, but the Office of the Speaker, the institution of the Parliament, the Separation of Powers and the Rule of Law? 

"How come Rowley saw nothing wrong with the constitution when former PNM Chairman Dr Linda Baboolal was appointed Senate President at a time when she was a sitting executive member of the PNM or when Danny Montano, a former PNM minister, was appointed Senate President by the PNM? Those were active politicians. 

"Rowley mumbled not a word. Conveniently, the Constitution is a wagon for him to ride today. With bated breath and whispering humility I wait to see what noise will be made by civil society towards Rowley’s obscene behavior. By their deeds ye shall know them!," Warner stated.