Rowley slams ‘miserable and cantankerous’ people

THE Prime Minister hit back at critics over the statement he issued last week, in the face of offers of support to TT after the recent floods, saying TT was coping.

At a sod turning ceremony for the new Diego Martin health centre this morning, Dr Rowley said it was sad that at a time when the national spirit rose higher than expected, some people found a way to dim our light.

"People in this country miserable you know? Cantankerous, you know? To the extent where sometimes they miss the flowers and they miss the gentle breezes," the PM said.

"They can find the way, if given a chance, to make negatives out of every possible thing. So I take the opportunity now to clarify a couple of things for the benefit of the national community."
Rowley said there was an issue where the country was offered help from Caricom territories and the prime minister turned it down.

"What is wrong with us? When my Caricom colleagues, all of whom, from Suriname to Jamaica, called to commiserate with us and they said well if you need help we here, it is like somebody saying to you, 'how you do' and you start reading out your medical condition and the last visit to the doctor. These are not questions that require an answer. It wasn't meant that they were going to hand us a cheque. It meant they were acknowledging we were in difficulty and they were standing with us firstly in spirit and secondly if physically they could contribute then they would," Rowley said.

"We are coping and we are coping very well."

He said it was very easy for people to criticise.

Rowley said many people told him how close they came to death.

"It happened so quickly to those in the buildings but then people say the Coast Guard and army weren't there."

He said while there was very little that could have been done to prevent the flooding, as his government moved forward it would learn from the experience.

"Let us not pull ourselves down.

“As we go forward, let us be grateful as a people.”