‘DocTar Rowley’ show ready for Jamaica road
Somewhere in Jamaica, some enterprising promoter must be getting posters ready to promote performances by T&T’s hottest talent today.
The promoter’s TV ads will feature images from that precious video clip shot last Tuesday on the PNM platform in St Joseph.
What the cameras captured was the promisingly bankable image of the T&T Prime Minister as a big-stage entertainer. Only a soca, or a dancehall, soundtrack was missing from the footage that showed Keith Rowley bouncing, bopping, bumping and grinding at the microphone, to a background of cheering.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160618/editorial/8216doctar-rowley8217-show-ready-for-jamaica-roadMore than Dillon, Rowley answerable for T&T crime
Prime Minister Keith Rowley last weekend confirmed personal ownership of the crime problem. That was the effect of his unshaken commitment to keep Edmund Dillon as National Security Minister.
Murders had reached 200 for 2016 when Dr Rowley was invited to reckon the record in office of retired major general Dillon. Indeed, the year-to-date murder count had exceeded that of 2015 by some 25 per cent. Understandably, the T&T murder toll has remained the conventional measure of progress in containing crime. Increasing murders, mostly undetected, remain a reflection on the performance of whoever is the minister under which policing falls.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160530/editorial/more-than-dillon-rowley-answerable-for-tt-crimeMurders bother still-planless PM
With hardly any chance to unpack a foreign shopping bag of governmental goodies, Prime Minister Keith Rowley landed to face the bloodiest local headlines.
The news told of 11 murders over that weekend. Blood staining the T&T floor was also capable of smearing the national image, Dr Rowley suggested: “Our society is labelling itself as a violent society.”
It’s a theme also troubling Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe. She was just then reported worrying aloud about the damage done to T&T’s desirability as a place to visit, by lurid Facebook crime-scene images.
None of this is new news. Yesterday’s count of 179 murders exceeded the 2015 year-to-date total of 145, but not by much that of 169 in 2014.
The “labelling” and the negative profiling represent damage long done. What, if anything, is new is how the eight month-old PNM administration goes about arresting T&T’s downhill slide to fearsome unlivability and international disrepute.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160516/editorial/murders-bother-still-planless-pmConduct unbecoming
Dr Keith Rowley needs to understand that he is the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, and no goading by his opponents or inaccurate stories or comments in the media about him should cause him to descend into conduct unbecoming of the leader of the nation.
Last Sunday, at a meeting of the Tobago arm of the People's National Movement, responding to the lead story in this newspaper about the Office of the Prime Minister “acquiring a new, $2 million Mercedes Benz car”, Dr Rowley told the party faithful that purchase was necessary because the current official car reeked of the stench of “vomit and other fluids” that could not be cleansed.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160405/editorial/conduct-unbecomingWhy T&T Govt silence on Brussels terrorism?
Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel’s call for “solidarity” against terrorist violence in his country’s capital this week merits serious consideration everywhere.
Mr Michel’s message especially resonates in a Belgium historically divided between mutually antagonistic and suspicious Flemish and Walloon peoples.
Long-standing enmities, given effect in political behaviour, may even have weakened the Belgian state. The result is to make that relatively small, but internationally high-profile, country all the more vulnerable to terrorist infiltration and subversion.
It is in this respect that Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s reaction to the Brussels carnage merits timely attention. For one thing, hers was the first by anyone in any position of prominence in T&T.
Certainly, Ms Persad-Bissessar’s condemnation of the terrorist attack came before any statement from the Rowley administration condemning the incident, beyond routine reporting that no Brussels-based T&T nationals had been hurt.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160325/editorial/why-tt-govt-silence-on-brussels-terrorismMr Jones wins, but T&T loses
IF not Malcolm Jones, then who? This question remains unanswered as citizens swallow hard the reality that State-owned Petrotrin was taken for a $1.2 billion ride by foreign smartmen—and nobody minding the store at Pointe-a-Pierre is to blame.
The foreigners, who suckered the energy jewel in the State enterprise crown, have been curiously described as “white Nigerians”.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160305/editorial/mr-jones-wins-but-tt-losesMost unsatisfactory
Thursday, March 3 2016
WE ARE disappointed the legal matter relating to Petrotrin’s controversial World Gas to Liquids Ltd (WGTL) project was not ventilated in court. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi may be of the view that the matter was a “non-starter” and was “bound to fail”, but that is precisely the issue which the court should have been allowed to determine. The court should have been allowed to hear and weigh the evidence and determine if the threshold of conduct was such as to move into the realm of breach of fiduciary duty or negligence.
It is clear the Cabinet and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, in particular, hold confidence in the abilities of Malcolm Jones, the former chairman and a co-defendant in the case. But the State’s decision to discontinue the case does Jones himself a disservice.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/editorial/0,224806.htmlRowley misstep shows in National Security
“Not at all” will remain the unforgettable, even if unbelievable, response of Prime Minister Keith Rowley to the question of whether his initial National Security appointment represented a misstep requiring correction as early as five months later.
Dr Rowley is yet directly and specifically to second-guess his appointment of Edmund Dillon. Nor is he yet ready to concede that the former Defence Force major general has shown himself to have less than what it takes to make a credible go of the National Security portfolio.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160204/editorial/rowley-misstep-shows-in-national-securityOver to you, PM Rowley
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley must act swiftly and decisively on allegations of impropriety made against Housing Minister Marlene McDonald and UDeCOTT chairman Noel Garcia.
Documentation thus far produced by Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge seems to show that Mr Garcia's son was the beneficiary of funding for his education from a company that was awarded HDC contracts when Mr Garcia held an office of influence at the agency.
Mr Sturge also accused Minister McDonald of using her influence to have the HDC sell an upscale unit to someone described as her “partner”. He produced documents that purport to show misconduct by Minister McDonald.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160105/editorial/over-to-you-pm-rowleyMessy outcomes from CB governor’s ouster
In his Tuesday address, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley avoided the controversial questions surrounding the means and ends of the changes wrought in his name at the head of the Central Bank.
He should not however expect that the public, viewing the summary ouster of Central Bank governor Jwala Rambarran and his replacement with Alvin Hilaire, took any implied hint to “move on”.
The injunction to shrug off such an episode, made infamous by Kamla Persad-Bissessar at a troubling juncture early in her prime ministerial term, is certain also to be ignored in Dr Rowley’s turn.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20151231/editorial/messy-outcomes-from-cb-governors-ousterDr Rowley’s missing pay cheque
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has every right to pursue what he thinks are his legitimate claims for salaries that were denied him during the period when he was suspended from the Parliament.
Not only can his pursuit of such payment, if successful, right a wrong—but it can be a landmark judgment one way or the other if the dispute reaches the courts of the land.
So if the Prime Minister has already taken-up his contention with the relevant authorities that is good news for building on an evolving democracy.
The question, however, is whether haranguing over the payment matter on a public platform in campaigning style, using inflammatory language, even threatening the stability of the state is a fitting modus operandi for Prime Minister Rowley to adopt.
“I have told my lawyer to tell the Parliament I want my money—I don’t like my money to sleep out,” was one of the lines of the Prime Minister.
http://m.guardian.co.tt/editorial/2016-06-18/dr-rowley%E2%80%99s-missing-pay-chequeDr Rowley’s stalled argument
The statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to justify the purchase of a new Mercedes-Benz is a perfect example of missing the point.
The OPM earlier this week offered four main arguments to explain the decision: (1) that the present PM1 vehicle is nine years old and out of commission; (2) that it is the staff, not the Prime Minister, which decides on such purchases; (3) that the replacement of the vehicles had already been budgeted for 2015 and 2016; and (4) that safety, comfort and security are among the main factors which inform these choices.
Only one of these arguments is persuasive. First, if a high-end vehicle can become unreliable or even uncomfortable after nine years, it does not deserve the label “high-end”. Second, it seems odd that the staff would make such a decision without even asking the Prime Minister if he’s happy with their choice.
http://m.guardian.co.tt/editorial/2016-04-07/dr-rowley%E2%80%99s-stalled-argument
Tue Oct 17, 2023 11:16 am by 
Subject: EDITORIAL / NEWS AGAINST ROWLEY 
