Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley says he would rather spend time with criminals in jail than with criminals in Parliament. “If all 36 of them want to send me to jail, I prefer to be with criminals in the Frederick Street jail and at the Golden Grove Prison rather than criminals in Parliament.” Rowley quoted deceased Jamaican politician Sir Alexander Bustamante, who served time in prison. “Bustamante said a politician who hasn’t been to jail doesn’t know his people.”
Noting his referral to the Privileges Committee, he said: “Thank God for small mercies. At least the people in Diego Martin still have a voice in Parliament.” Rowley made the statements at a political meeting in the Croisee in San Juan on Thursday night to a small crowd of supporters.
He repeated his lack of confidence in Deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson, who is supervising a police team investigating the damning e-mails pointing to government officials that Rowley read in Parliament. Explaining his lack of confidence in Richardson, he said: “It’s like love: either it’s there or it’s not.” Referring to Richardson’s age, he said his contract expired in September and was expected to be renewed in November.
“And you want us to accept that as an investigation?” he asked. Tracing the start of his loss of confidence in Richardson, Rowley said it began when Richardson came to him before the government declared a state of emergency in August 2011, telling him of a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. He recounted the incident in an incredulous tone, eliciting laughter from supporters over the alleged assassination plot.
He said the PM had called him and said there was an assassination plot against her and she wanted to see him. Rowley said he told Persad-Bissessar he would prefer to hear it from security officials, and the next morning Richardson came to his office to see him. “I asked if they had any suspects and he said they had some in custody.” Rowley went on to recall the arrest of several Muslims who were held without charge and then later released with the assistance of PNM Senator, attorney Faris Al-Rawi.
The Croisee meeting came hours after Rowley was referred to the Privileges Committee by Speaker Wade Mark for possible contempt, for which he may face expulsion over allegations that he misled the House. Persad-Bissessar, who raised the contempt allegation, said the e-mails were obviously fake. Rowley and his PNM colleagues also walked out of the House last Wednesday during debate on their no-confidence motion.
At the Croisee meeting, which he said was planned long in advance, Rowley spent more than an hour seeking validation from supporters, not so much for the authenticity of the e-mails, but for the course of action he took. “The Government has been running up and down over the last three days saying what will happen to Rowley. “Fear not, I am in God’s hands,” he assured supporters, who were largely quiet.
Tracing the start of the e-mail story, from the time he received them in December last year to when he passed them to former president George Maxwell Richards to when he exposed them in Parliament at the end of April, he said: “It is quite likely, if I had not gone to Parliament, the matter would have remained where it was for a year.” He then did an “audit” with the people by asking a series of questions to validate his action.
“Would you have preferred to have known about this—it matters not if you believe the e-mails or not?” The crowd sent back a less than resounding “yes.” “Do you believe these people (the alleged senders of the e-mails) are capable of such conversation and you don’t believe anything the Government is saying?” The yes was louder this time. “Do you want an investigation into the e-mails by an independent body?”
The yes was even louder. “I have never done my job better. For six months nothing was done, and I go to Parliament, and in 24 hours something is being done. “You call that success,” Rowley said, commending himself. He said he had washed his hands of the e-mail affair but quickly added that he was prepared to fight to ensure there was an independent investigation into it.
He repeated his insistence the matter falls squarely under the ambit of the Integrity Commission and called on chairman Ken Gordon to move “post haste” in seeking advice on the investigative powers of the commission.