Caption: Dr Keith Rowley
By Alicia Chamely
FORMER Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is defending his administration’s handling of the Dragon Gas deal and is challenging the government to reveal the details of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) license that was granted to begin negotiations with Venezuela.
Speaking a press conference from his home on Friday morning, just one after Attorney General John Jeremie announced the government had been granted a six-month OFAC license and declared the Dragon Gas Deal had come alive, Rowley questioned the government’s handling of the Dragon Gas deal and criticized the AG for his lack of clarity on the details of the OFAC license.
Rowley took issue with Jeremie avoiding questions as to who would negotiate with Venezuela, giving a detailed account of his negotiations with the Latin American country. The former PM highlighted the tensions between the new government and Venezuela, noting the recent back and forth may have harmed the cooperative relationship between the two countries that had been established by himself and former Energy Minister Stuart Young.
He said, “If, today, what is required is T&T talking to Venezuela to bringing Venezuela back around to get us back to where we were on the day the last OFAC license was cancelled, if we cannot get that done today, it is largely going to be because of the misbehaviour and missteps and misspeaking and the carelessness and the don’t-care-damn of the government dating back to 2016.”
Taking at Jeremie’s avoidance of discussing details of the OFAC license and his vague responses to questions asked of him, Rowley said, “He couldn’t answer, and he was coy and playing smart with foolishness. But that is the kernel and heart of the matter, getting Venezuela to now agree. But you think it is more important to that the Americans want and the Americans want that.”
He said, “But is Venezuelan gas. So, what is more important is what Venezuela wants because there is no plant in Pt Lisas processing OFAC paper.”
Rowley discussed the negotiation process held with Venezuela by himself and Young. He criticised the government for seemingly being dependent on Shell and other American entities to negotiate on T&T’s behalf, questioning who would be protecting the interests of T&T.
“Who will protect Trinidad and Tobago’s interest to ensure that we are the table, we are in the pipeline and we are at the end of the LNG plant where the money is made?” he said, “Where will our income come from if others negotiate on their behalf and there is nobody protecting our interests?”
Rowley cautioned, “This is serious business. This is the future of the children of Trinidad and Tobago and this clown show that the UNC is carrying on is a threat to the children of Trinidad and Tobago.”
The former PM further took issue with Jeremie’s statement that his administration had spent over $120 million on the Dragon Gas project and “had nothing to show for it.”
Detailing the steps that were taken by his administration to get the Dragon Gas project off the ground and his recollection of the costs, he said, the government was, “just looking for issues. There’s no way that we would have spent a hundred million dollars on this issue, as Mr Jeremie would have said. And if you compare apples with apples where he said they spend half a million dollars, I don’t know on what. But since he said that, you may want to ask him what you spend $.5 million on.”
“For the Attorney General to be attempting to mislead the population that’s a frightening thing,” he added.
