By Prior Beharry
PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley claims that during the 2015 general elections campaign, somebody wanted him dead.
He made the revelation in the Lower House on Friday during debate on whistleblower legislation.
Dr Rowley was Opposition Leader in the Parliament before the elections after he succeeded Patrick Manning as the political leader of the People’s National Movement (PNM).
The PNM went on to win the elections with 23 seats out of 41. The incumbent United National Congress became the Opposition with 18 seats. The MP for Diego Martin West became prime minister after the PNM’s victory.
In the Lower House, Dr Rowley said some people in the country had an interest to protect if he had ascended to higher office.
He said, “People in this country who had interest to protect from any ascendency from me to another office went to other citizens and offered them money to kill me.
“The person they went to and offered them money to, being a member of the criminal element, found even that difficult for such a person to swallow.
“They had to talk to somebody and tell somebody that other people were doing that.
“I ran through the 2015 election with a threat to my life because it appears as though if we won that election and I was to become the prime minister there were people who were prepared to kill to prevent that from happening.”
He added, “I went through the campaign in a bullet-proof vehicle surrounded by security officers.”
In his contribution, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal said the reason someone wanted to kill Dr Rowley was because of the crime situation in the country and had nothing to do with a lack of whistleblower legislation.
