Rowley on the floor
‘Come clean with Sunway’Stories by KYLE JEREMIAH (Guardian)
Former Minister Keith Rowley is calling on Government to come clean on details of a memorandum of understanding with Malaysian company Sunway, in which Sunway is to construct highways, hotels and other infrastructural projects in T&T. Rowley made the call yesterday, during his first contribution in the Parliament since being fired by Prime Minister Patrick Manning in April.
According to Rowley, the announcement of Sunway’s future projects with T&T was made on the Internet through a top Sunway official.
He lamented, however, that Government did not reveal the information. Rowley said:
“I had to go on the Internet to find out that Mr Yow and Sunway have an MOU to construct highways and other infrastructural projects.
“Question No 1: Which highways, which hotels, which resorts?
“And how come Mr Yow has this MOU and Mr Yang doesn’t have it and Mr Ling doesn’t have it, or I don’t have it? “What procurement procedure gave Mr Yow this inside track that he could be telling the world that he has an MOU?
“Today, I am calling on the Government to make that MOU public, so we could say what Mr Yow has or doesn’t have.”
Rowley said Sunway spoke of the “wonderful business” the company had attracted in T&T, and that business was expected to get better.
He said the document referred to a quarrying contract in T&T, where Sunway would produce a million tonnes and Government would purchase the full amount.
Rowley, however, dismissed statements from Opposition Chief Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj that local contractors were not allowed to bid—though, his defence of Government in that respect did not stop him from taking the Government to task on the issue.
“My question to Government—the terms and conditions that were offered to the local people when they bid, are they the same terms and conditions that Sunway ended up with? “If they were not, why is it that local people were put at a disadvantage? “When you look at what is being said, local persons were told you had to build a plant with the capacity of a million tonnes. The Government in the first three years will guarantee to take 400,000 from you—in year four they will take 100,000—so you will have to go to the market and sell 600,000 or 900,000 along the way.
“Is that the same thing that Sunway is saying here on the Internet that they have a contract to sell to the Government a million tonnes a year?”
Rowley slams UdecottMeanwhile, regarding allegations that Sunway purchased a three-week old company that was awarded a state-contract, Rowley said “procurement immediately becomes an issue.”
Rowley said he left written instructions, when he was the then Minister in the Ministry of Planning, that no contractor who did not pre-qualify should be considered.
Rowley was referring to the contract that was awarded for construction of the $368- million Legal Affairs tower in Port-of-Spain.
“Unless another minister gave a countermanding instruction, the instruction I left there stands, even though I am out of the Cabinet, out of the Government, out of the picture, out
“That allegation was made in this Parliament. To date, Udecott has not answered; the Government has not answered.”
‘Manning’s boasting not PNM’s way’Prime Minister Patrick Manning found himself at the receiving end, yesterday, of the political wrath of the minister he fired in April—Keith Rowley.
In fact, Rowley condemned the statement made by Manning, two weeks ago, in Woodford Square that “if the leader falls, all fall down.”
Manning made the statement while addressing scores of PNMites who journeyed from various constituencies to show support for Manning while the Opposition’s no-confidence motion against him was being debated. But Rowley was not impressed.
“I took careful note of a comment by our Prime Minister last week Friday in Woodford Square, where he told the people gathered there—among them the least fortunate of the country, Cepep and similar types—I took careful note of the statement that ‘if the leader falls, all fall.’
“That is not the PNM way, and it should never be like that!”
Rowley reflected on when his grandfather became a PNM supporter—because of the policies and programmes that Dr Eric Williams put in place “that converted me from a barefoot schoolboy in Mason Hall, creating the opportunity for mobility from the backwaters of a village to where I am in the Parliament of T&T.
“So PNM must not tell people that your future, your meal depends on me being in office. It can’t be that.”
On the issue of inflation—which has ballooned to 13.5 per cent—Rowley said it “bothered” him that government officials were discounting the issue as trivial.
“Approaching 10 per cent inflation and you get a comment from the top of the Government that the sky is not going to fall—it doesn’t do anything for the confidence of those who hire you to do their jobs and it causes concern with people like me who are about to enter retirement.
“Because 15 per cent inflation is the biggest enemy to my quality of life and for the thousands of people in this country who live on fixed income,” Rowley said.
Rowley Roars...tears into Govt policies, wades into Manning in Budget debate
Ria Taitt, Political Editor (Express)
Tuesday, September 30th 2008
"I will support the PNM. I will stand by the PNM. I am for the PNM. I am PNM. But I am not supporting that!"
Diego Martin West MP Keith Rowley used this emphatic declaration of his PNM allegiance as the basis of his blistering attack against Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Works Minister Colm Imbert yesterday.
And by the time he finished his wide-ranging presentation in the Budget debate in the House of Representatives, Port of Spain, he had virtually wiped the floor with his leader, registering his fundamental disagreement with the direction that the Manning-led Government was taking on major issues. As he commanded the attention of the entire House, Rowley laid out his case, quoting liberally from PNM founder Eric Williams, from the party's manifestos "with the handsome gentleman with the old time glasses on it (Manning)" and from the Principles of Integrity for Persons in Public Life and those exercising public functions.
He criticised the slow pace of Government's implementation, questioned the claim that the Ministry of Housing had begun construction of 6,000 homes, warned about the dangers of galloping inflation and Government uncontrolled spending, hit out at the absence of transparency and an acceptable procurement policy, slammed Government's "denigration" of local contractors, and its preference for foreign contractors and took the Prime Minister to task on the issue of public integrity. Stating that rising prices were the greatest threat to the country, Rowley chastised Government spokespersons for speaking "glibly and dismissively" about the rising prices.
"(We were) Approaching ten per cent inflation and you get a comment from the top of the Government that the sky is not going to fall in. That doesn't do anything for the confidence...because 15 per cent inflation is the biggest enemy to our quality of life and for the thousands of people who live on fixed incomes, those pensioners, those who are barely making ends meet...their dollar is worth 15 per cent less than in December and that is the threat to their quality of life... that would convert someone from a comfortable middle class person to a pauper, notwithstanding whatever else the Government does," he said.
Noting experts were saying that it is Government expenditure driving inflation, he said that deserved a debate, not a dismissal. And he noted that notwithstanding all this quick movement of inflation, Government was saying in this Budget 'spend and be damned'.
Turning to transparency, Rowley said the public had a right to know how public institutions apply the resources entrusted to them.
"In keeping in step with this requirement, under what circumstances are my colleagues telling the country that you cannot say who you giving scholarships to and ...how much money you pay to a lawyer?" he asked.
"No shame!" chimed in Jack Warner. 
Government, citing the right to privacy, has refused to answer questions in the Parliament on who got scholarships and how much money attorney Douglas Mendes was paid.
Said Rowley: "When I was in the Cabinet, certain imps took the position that the Government should not answer particular questions and I objected to that. And the questions were answered. And as soon as I left the Cabinet you come and tell the country, you can't answer. I am saying that is a violation of the core principles of integrity in public life and a violation of our party manifesto positions, page 14, where it says we as part of a public contract with the people are committed ourselves to clarity and public accountability. Let us not squander the PNM's inheritance on short term arrangements to suit certain people." Slamming Government for its failure to respond to allegations made by Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj (made over four months ago) that UDeCOTT gave a $367 million contract to a three-week-old company, CW Development, in which Calder Hart's relatives were involved and which was then sold to Sunway, Rowley declared: "I find it shocking that a State enterprise could have an allegation like that made against it and choose to say nothing."
He recalled that when Ganga Singh made the Landate allegations against him, he immediately got up and denied it in Parliament.
On the Sunway allegation, "not a word from my PNM Government. It disgraces us!" he said. To date, he contended, Government spokesmen, instead of responding, had spent all of their time "trying to badmouth Rowley".
He said he had to read on the Internet the Head of the Malaysian firm Sunway, Mr Yao, saying that he had signed an MOU, to construct highways, other infrastructural projects and hotels. And he "cringed", he said, when he later read in the local newspapers that the Head of Sunway "was in my Prime Minister's office".
"In George Chambers day, Sunway couldn't come on Whitehall step. And in Eric Williams days, when allegations were made against O'Hallaron, I can find no instance where Eric Williams provided a shield for O'Hallaron and Prevatt. Today Sunway going to the PM office and leaving with a leaflet that says further deals are to come," he said. 
Suggesting that Sunway, which also won a quarrying contract, was being favoured, Rowley asked whether the local bidders were given the same terms as Sunway for the $1 billion quarry deal.
Saying that Imbert had a habit of decrying local contractors, Rowley stated: "They say I am the mouthpiece of local contractors? I am proud to be the mouthpiece....So what does that make you?"
Rowley said Vision 2020 was never about the "denigration" of local effort.
"If that is what we are doing, then we are so far away from Vision 2020, which talks about developing local people," he said.
Rowley, who recalled that he visited the site of the Scarborough Hospital twice, both in his ministerial capacity, labelled it as "the worst management Government project ever". On the issue of housing, the former Housing Minister, whose tenure saw the construction of 8,000 houses each year, challenged the claim that 6,000 houses were started in this fiscal year. (See Page 5).
"Let the relevant Minister tell us where these 6,000 houses were started in the last fiscal year. Because my understanding is that all the time was spent in that Ministry investigating to find out who did what and to confirm what was said before. And I do not know where 6,000 houses were started in the last fiscal year. Prove me wrong! Stand up in here and tell us the location of the 6,000 houses...If you reporting 6,000 probably fictitious, even that does not measure up." Rowley criticised the PM's spirited defence of the Malaysia oil company, Petronis, noting that Petronis was famous for oil and gas and corruption.
"We have the head of the Government leading the charge for Vision 2020, advocating to us that the Petronis model, where you have plenipotentiary powers given to certain people so that they could do what they please, to get our development done. I reject that out of hand!" he declared, saying the country should watch companies like Petronis with "cokey eye".
On the need for procurement policy, Rowley said the White Paper on procurement went to UDeCOTT and died.
He drew thunderous table-thumping support sometimes from his Government colleagues (with the exception of Manning and Imbert) and at other times from the Opposition MPs. He said he knew the Government meant well, but it needed to change its course. Quoting Williams, he again rooted his criticism in his ties to the party and took issue with Manning's statement in Woodford Square recently that if "I fall, all fall".
"Forget the UNC, NAR et cetera. The PNM is in a class by itself. The PNM is a national institution," he said.
