Rowley's pathetic martyrdom - the Peter O'Connor column

File: Keith Rowley

No politician in our history, who while not in power, has made himself as unpopular as Keith Rowley has done. 

We have seen our political leaders, when elected to head government, fall out of favour with the people, and become extremely unpopular while in office. 


But for a person not in charge, and upon whom the responsibility for failings and perceived failings of the government cannot be laid, to develop the level of unpopularity with which Rowley has cloaked himself, is a rare feat indeed.

But to what end and what purpose did Keith Rowley set out to destroy himself? 

As he now pathetically accuses the Attorney General of forcing him into bankruptcy he only adds to the calumny he has brought upon himself. Maybe this behaviour stems from his political isolation. 

Keith was hounded out of Cabinet in 2008 when Manning called him a “raging bull” for questioning Calder Hart’s activities. Many thought then that Rowley was upset by Hart’s alleged corrupt activities. But we soon learned, on examining Rowley’s statements, that what was really upsetting him, as Hart’s Line Minister, was that Calder Hart was bypassing him, and speaking directly to Manning. 

And of course, we can understand Keith being upset by this, because no manager likes their employee bypassing them and reporting directly to the chairman. 

But, of course, Hart also had good reason to bypass Rowley. Calder was at the time not only building a hotel into NAPA (remember that, folks, it is still there, empty, unused, unusable and paid for by you!) as well as Manning’s Palace, along with an “auditorium”, which just happened somehow to be built on Ms. Pena’s land in Guanapo, miles away from the Palace. 

With such prestige clients, Hart was not going to bother to consult with any “raging bull”.

As Manning railed against Rowley in Parliament, he was cheered on, via desk thumping and supportive picong, by Colm Imbert, Amery Browne, Marlene McDonald, Donna Cox, Paula Gopie-Scoon, Nileung Hypolite and Fitzgerald Jeffery, who all retained their seats following Manning’s act of folly in 2010. 

This little group, who so ridiculed Rowley, at their master’s bidding in parliament through 2008 and 2009, are now forced to call Rowley their Leader. 

And this clearly rankles them all—Rowley who is leader with no followers, and the rest as people who will never embrace Rowley as their political leader. Indeed, some of these unguided people still blame Rowley rather than Manning for the collapse of the PNM in the 2010 election.

So, is it any wonder that Keith Rowley, under these conditions, took to barking and yapping, like a stray pothound outside the gates, at every shadow within the house of power?

In his almost daily summons to the media, where he shouts accusations at every cabinet member of the PP government, Keith Rowley has become a bore to all. But, notwithstanding the fact that Rowley was almost always proven wrong in his wild accusations against everyone in the Cabinet, he never stopped his yapping. 

Mind you, he was encouraged by a surprisingly docile and accommodating media, who reported his every accusation as fact, and notwithstanding his clear record of being consistently wrong, never asked him to prove or support his allegations with fact or evidence.

And Rowley now compounds his calumny by claiming that it is the State—the AG’s Office—which is suing him, and driving him bankrupt. 

But Anand Ramlogan, who is the AG, has stated that he, Anand, has brought these suits in his personal name, not through the office of the AG. And of course Rowley would have known this, so in his pathetic quest for martyrdom, he misled everyone again. 

And surely the media would have known this too, so why do they publish Rowley’s false statements as fact?

And yes, we have seen that now, as Rowley faces the consequences for his stream of rash and unfounded charges against cabinet members, a stammering rally of pretended support from some of his MP “colleagues”, and contrived support from the far wing of PNM sycophantism. 

But the truth is, and should any pollster put the question, it would be shown that most of us are simply fed up with Rowley’s ranting, and the PNM must be sorely embarrassed by him.

The real tragedy of all of us being bombarded by Rowley’s constant unfounded and incorrect claims is that it creates a massive impediment to the business of governance of our country.

Rowley, and Rowley alone is responsible for his predicament. 

No one is trying to muzzle him. If he believed he had spoken the truth, he would be challenging Ramlogan to bring the lawsuits. No one should be supporting his quest for his martyrdom. We should all be more responsible than to ever support such nonsense.