by Ricky Jordan

AMIDST A WAVE of sympathy, surprise and outrage at the firing of senior cabinet minister Keith Rowley, Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday insisted Rowley's behaviour at a recent meeting had "crossed the bounds of propriety" and was "considerably worse" than the actions of suspended Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday.

Manning, addressing the media at the weekly post-cabinet Press conference outside Red House yesterday, said that before censoring former trade and industry minister Rowley, he sought the views of five of the eight ministers who attended the meeting in question.

One minister, Manning said, described Rowley's tirade as "totally out of line", another as "hooligan behaviour" and others as "an attitude unbecoming of a senior minister".

According to Manning, in view of the recent behaviour by Panday which caused him to be suspended from the House, "we cannot reject that behaviour by the opposition leader and accept that which was considerably worse".

"I therefore asked for Mr Rowley's resignation which he refused, and so I did what I had to do as prime minister," he added.

The firing stems from Rowley's firm stand on the controversial Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (UDECOTT), which has been responsible for some of the government's largest projects, including the Hyatt Regency hotel, the Prime Minister's residence, the Academy of Arts, and the now ongoing Government Plaza in Port-of-Spain. In his comments on the Academy of Arts building, Rowley mentioned the previously unpublicised presence of a 60-room hotel in the architectural designs.

But Manning, showing copies of a detailed design to reporters, said it always contained the hotel as part of the Chinese loan project worth more than TT$100 million, and that "it was not put in surreptitiously by anyone".

Disgust and anger

But the mood in Trinidad following Wednesday's firing has been disgust and anger. Political scientist Dr Bishnu Ragoonath said in a TV interview that the Prime Minister had "ensured that the most senior people who could have challenged him were eliminated before the [November 2007] election", and he was therefore not surprised at Rowley's dismissal six months into office.

Others, meanwhile, are calling for a major investigation into UDECOTT, with Mickey Joseph of the Contractors' Association saying they had long raised concern over "corruption" and "serious cost overruns".

Rowley himself told his Diego Martin constituents late Wednesday night that his objections, which roused the ire of Manning, had focused on "the procurement process" and "certain other operations" of UDECOTT as a public company.

Rowley, who was replaced by Manning's right-hand man Dr Lenny Saith, said he had no issue with staying with the ruling People's National Movement (PNM), despite the rumours that certain elements in the PNM were bent on having him arrested for corruption.

Please see also Page 31.