Caption: Dr Keith Rowley
By Alicia Chamely
FORMER Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is not entitled to her own “facts”.
Rowley has accused the Prime Minister of placing lies into the Hansard of Parliament regarding him interfering with the process of selecting a Commissioner of Police (COP) during his tenure.
In a Facebook post on Friday, after a sitting of the House of Representatives at the Red House, Port of Spain, Rowley sought to clear the air of what he referred to as an attempt “to influence a revision of the public record by placing lies on the Hansard of Parliament.”
Rowley stated, “Yesterday in the debate on the Motion to appoint a Commissioner of Police she said, ‘The former prime minister ran to President House and grabbed the Merit List’. That is a lie!”
He said as prime minister he never saw the Merit List nor did he discuss it with anyone.
Rowley said, “What I did and what I publicly stated to the country is that I made available to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission a report which came to me from an investigation initiated by me as Chairman of the National Security Council.”
The former Prime Minister indicated that the transfer of that document had nothing to do with the President.
Rowley said, “It was done by me in keeping with my duty as confirmed by the High Court. To do otherwise would have been ‘a dereliction of duty’ as stated by the High Court.”
He clarified that once the report was handed over to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, he had no involvement in the matter and what the Commission chose to do with the report was their decision as an independent authority.
Rowley said, “The current Prime Minister who consistently slandered the former President and attempted to impeach the former President on this matter will always be told that it matters not how often she tries — she is not entitled to her own ‘facts’.”
During her presentation on the appointment of a Commissioner of Police at Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, Persad-Bissessar accused Rowley and the People’s National Movement of historically trying to undermine the independence of the PSC to control the selection of the COP.
In the case of Rowley and former COP Gary Griffith, she said, “On August 12, 2021, Bliss Seepersad, then Chairman of the Police Service Commission, was meeting with Prime Minister Rowley at the President’s Residence on the cusp of the Order of Merit List being submitted to the President.”
Persad-Bissessar said, “Then Prime Minister Rowley subsequently confirmed in an interview with the Express Newspaper on March 10, 2022, that he was the ‘high-ranking official’ who met with then-Police Service Commission Chairman Bliss Seepersad at the President’s House and provided information about Police Commissioner Gary Griffith. Shameless, classless, and wrong!”
Referring to Rowley as a dictator throughout her contribution, she said the former Prime Minister had inserted himself into the business of the PSC, undermining their role as an independent authority, and costing Griffth his career.
