Rowley's magnum opus

Paolo Kernahan

A GUY bursts into a room filled with people. Surprised heads swivel sharply on their necks. He whips a hand grenade out of his pocket, pulls the pin, throws it, turns and walks out of the room closing the door behind him.

OK, this is heavy on the drama but it’s a fair comment on Keith Rowley’s
magnum opus, capping off a 45-year career in politics. He’s created a large diversion that citizens have forgotten about the most pressing issues at our throats. The focus has shifted entirely to the PNM.

You’d be forgiven for thinking the chaotic announcement of a state of emergency indicated poor planning and last-minute decision-making. That's only marginally true. It’s clearer now that an SoE (state of emergency) of ill-defined architecture, the PM’s bombshell resignation, and the who-will-be-the-new-PM roadshow are all part of a meticulously orchestrated strategy to control the weather amid a storm of public discontent.

Many see magnanimity and maturity in Rowley’s resignation. The PM didn’t step aside in the interest of party and country as he and others have implied. He quit, having had enough of this whole business of governing. “...before the end of the legal limits of this term, I will resign this office and go off to my family.” The sentiment is one of abdication, of someone thinking first of his own needs rather than what’s best for the nation.

Most troubling is the PM excusing himself from the weightiest of all state decisions – stripping an entire nation of our constitutionally-protected rights – only to resurface several days later to cavalierly announce at the tail end of a news conference, “I’m out.” By all accounts, Stuart Young will assume the office in February. Not exactly a resignation with immediate effect, but close enough.

TT ushered in the New Year under emergency powers. If you sampled public chatter right now, though, you’d scarcely know it. Horror over the vicious murder of a state prosecutor in front of his family after a church service petered out like a house fire in a hurricane. It’s all eyes on Young’s coronation and the Machiavellian machinations of his mentor.

Meanwhile, each of us is walking around as easy prey for police officers and soldiers with malevolent intentions, thanks to an SoE that hangs like Beetham smog. We all want to believe the men and women of our protective services hold true to their oaths of office. There’s ample evidence, however, of rogue elements in law enforcement.

Consider the controversial charges against Canadian YouTuber Chris Must List, his main offence being embarrassing the police service and the government. That’s not to say this is a clear case of abuse of power, but the disproportionate attention applied to Chris Must List should make us all nervous under an SoE. National discourse, news coverage and column inches, though, are now displaced by this administration’s game of pin the tail on the donkey.

The Prime Minister deftly sidestepped party mechanisms for the choosing of a political leader, forcing through his pick for successor with a razor-thin majority. Some have referenced Stuart Young’s age, marking a shift away from dinosaur politics.

I’ve always said we should be more attuned to an individual’s competence and temperament for leadership in politics; neither race nor age should be considerations. At any rate, Young is a dinosaur junior. He may be relatively young, but he’s a chip off the old Rowley block – arrogant, cocksure, dismissive, divisive. Sound like anyone you know?

Rowley and Young himself have credited the latter’s stewardship with saving the energy industry. However, when the NGC declared a $1.3 billion loss for the 2023 financial year, Young blamed the staggering loss on contracts signed by the PP government in 2014/2015. So did he “save” the sector or not?

To objectively evaluate Young’s competence, ask yourself to name three things he did in the ministries in which he served that moved the country forward. Are there projects under his tenure that were completed that we can unequivocally say put us on the path to becoming a more progressive nation?

You see, people confuse the Swiss Army Minister’s ability to handle himself in front of the media with actual competence and delivery. His age and the way he sounds shouldn’t matter.

Rowley has said he’d like to be remembered for his legacy of performance. I dare say his final great escape to bucolic bliss, and bouncing grans on his knee, after hanging the weight of responsibility around Young’s neck and that albatross around ours – that is masterful.