JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Rowley on criticisms over recall of diplomat: They come home when I say

by

20161116

T&T diplo­mats, come home when I call.That's the or­der from Prime Min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley who gave his po­si­tion on Tues­day fol­low­ing con­tentions over Gov­ern­ment's re­moval of am­bas­sador Eden Charles from a Unit­ed Na­tions' post.

"When I put my sig­na­ture that you come home, then you come home be­cause I am the Prime Min­is­ter of T&T," Row­ley stressed at Tues­day's PNM Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment meet­ing in San Juan. He said he had tak­en a dim view of a re­cent ed­i­to­r­i­al con­cern­ing the diplo­mat who had been asked to re­turn.

A news­pa­per ed­i­to­r­i­al re­cent­ly called Row­ley out on what was de­scribed as the "un­time­ly re­moval" of deputy per­ma­nent rep­re­sen­ta­tive to the UN, am­bas­sador Eden Charles, from the chair­man­ship of the Group of Latin Amer­i­can and Caribbean (GRU­LAC) coun­tries in the UN.

The ed­i­to­r­i­al not­ed the prompt­ed ap­peals from with­in the UN for Gov­ern­ment to hold off on the re­moval.

GRU­LAC had writ­ten Gov­ern­ment re­quest­ing that Charles be al­lowed to con­tin­ue as chair­man of ne­go­ti­a­tions for the new Law of the Sea Treaty. Pro­fes­sor Andy Knight (for­mer di­rec­tor of the In­sti­tute of In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions) al­so knocked Gov­ern­ment's de­ci­sion to re­voke Charles' ap­point­ment.

How­ev­er, Row­ley said a num­ber of peo­ple had been tak­en out of posts and some sent to posts in nor­mal for­eign af­fairs as­sign­ments. He said he had not­ed the ed­i­to­r­i­al at­tack­ing the Gov­ern­ment for "in­ter­fer­ing with a par­tic­u­lar for­eign ser­vice of­fi­cer."

He said: "Let me say some­thing to all of you here at home and every­where else in the coun­try. "I take a dim view of any cit­i­zen who is sent abroad to rep­re­sent us abroad and who has 'dropped an­chor' for ten years and when we are be­gin­ning to re­or­gan­ise our busi­ness, we ask you to come back home and you de­cide to go and in­vite oth­er for­eign coun­tries to as­sail the For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter, the Prime Min­is­ter and the coun­try and to bad mouth the Prime Min­is­ter and the coun­try, hop­ing to stay out there.

"But let me tell you some­thing: When I put my sig­na­ture that you come home, then you come home be­cause I am the Prime Min­is­ter of T&T."

Row­ley said he was not im­pressed with those who want­ed to "sup­port that ridicu­lous con­duct where for­eign ser­vice of­fi­cers could go and be re­cruit­ing for­eign­ers to lob­by to re­main in the lap of lux­u­ry. "What you should be do­ing is cry­ing shame on such a per­son," he added.

Ask­ing if T&T was a ba­nana re­pub­lic, Row­ley queried why "our of­fi­cers" could do that.

"Can you imag­ine, an Eng­lish­man, Amer­i­can, In­di­an can do that? Your Gov­ern­ment call you home and in­stead of com­ing home and see­ing what else they have for you to do in your ca­reer, you go cam­paign­ing against the Gov­ern­ment.

"There are peo­ple in T&T who should know bet­ter than to en­cour­age that kind of fool­ish­ness," he added.

Row­ley ques­tioned why some may feel they could get away with such be­hav­iour since they would not try it with for­mer prime min­is­ters Er­ic Williams, George Cham­bers or ANR Robin­son.

"So why you feel that un­der my Gov­ern­ment, you could be called home and you could be do­ing that?" he asked.

Say­ing he was un­moved by the ed­i­to­r­i­al, Row­ley added: " This PNM Gov­ern­ment is a mighty force as we do what is right... those of us who hold au­thor­i­ty... some­times we have a lit­tle more in­for­ma­tion than you. So don't get on your high horse. Your sad­dle might be loose."

ROW­LEY'S FAM­I­LYLIVES AT PM'S HOUSE

Prime Min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley's daugh­ter, son-in-law and grand­son live at the Prime Min­is­ter's of­fi­cial res­i­dence in St Ann's along with he and his wife.Row­ley con­firmed that at Tues­day's PNM San Juan meet­ing. He said the Op­po­si­tion had been query­ing who lives at the res­i­dence and who was dri­ving in the PM's cars.

He said: "I have noth­ing to hide. The Op­po­si­tion wants to know who sleeps in the PM's house, so let me tell you: My wife, my daugh­ter, my son-in law, my grand­son and any­body else I in­vite as my guest... sleep­ing in that house.

"I didn't ask for any­thing when I went to that house. The se­cu­ri­ty agen­cies pro­vid­ed what they thought the fam­i­ly should have.

"If I am in a car and my wife is in an­oth­er car and if my daugh­ter comes and we take her some­where else... I'm sure the peo­ple know what I am en­ti­tled to and what not. I hope the Op­po­si­tion can an­swer what's asked of them."

Row­ley said he had seen bills for $1.67 mil­lion for one Di­vali func­tion at the PM's res­i­dence host­ed by for­mer prime min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar.–Gail Alexan­der


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored