Rowley: Marlene fiasco started under Manning gov't

THE Prime Minister yesterday sought to distance himself from events leading to the arrest of fired public administration minister Marlene McDonald.

“Your main interest is to see if you could pin this to the Prime Minister. I wish you luck,” he told reporters.

Otherwise Dr Rowley said acts that McDonald had been accused of had happened under the Patrick Manning government, when he himself had sat outside Cabinet, and under the Kamla Persad-Bissessar regime.

Rowley spoke for 65 minutes at yesterday’s post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.

Denying that TT was in crisis over McDonald’s arrest, he said it was a sign of a strong government crafting “a new society” of integrity.

“The system is working. That’s why the police could have acted without let or hindrance. It is not a crisis; it is a ray of hope. For the first time we are dealing with matters that were insoluble in the society. Trust my judgement; You will be backing a good horse.”

On whether he had shown a lack of judgement towards McDonald, he said screening politicians involves a certain reliance on the truthfulness of their answers when they are asked about any personal liability.

Asked why the PNM does not require all its candidates for office to answer a ten-question form on issues such as bankruptcy, wife-beating and DUI charges, he said such a form has now been designed and would be used soon: "We are learning as we go along."

Asked if McDonald had claimed to be innocent of corruption allegations surrounding the Calabar Foundation in personal talks with him, Rowley replied, “Yes, she did.”

While McDonald was fired again as a minister and PNM deputy leader, Newsday asked if she might quit as Port of Spain South MP and so trigger a by-election.

Saying one thing only comes after another, Rowley said, “Let’s not jump the gun.” He then said that just because an MP is on a charge does not mean they should resign, adding that on an overseas visit he had seen MPs in the Indian Parliament accused of murder.

Rowley said he had relied on the Integrity Commission clearing McDonald of any wrongdoing in the Calabar matter and otherwise he had facilitated a probe into claims of wrongdoing at the HDC by removing her as Housing Minister.

“It was unreasonable to say I did not act.”

More recently, he said last Sunday was the first time he heard McDonald was to be charged, and the next day he fired her from Cabinet and then as PNM deputy leader. He said the law must now take its course in the law courts.

"Feel good about it. That's the way it is supposed to happen."

Under him, the police had built their capacity to pursue white-collar crime, which did not exist before, he said.

"Corruption will not be a way of life. All who thought there was no hope, this is more than hope."

Rowley said people would have preferred allegations to be made about him, but failing that, the next best thing for them was to try to blame him for poor judgement over McDonald.

He alleged the media had forgotten about failings of past UNC politicians such as Anand Ramlogan and Dhanraj Singh.