Rowley: PM’s position on ‘NHA mosque’ final

Housing Minister Keith Rowley yesterday said he had no new information regarding the matter of the mosque which was constructed at Plai-sance Road, Canada, Laventille West, but that the “matter was being handled by the Ministry of National Security.”

Speaking to reporters following a ceremony of handing over of keys to the second phase of the Oropune Housing Devel-opment, Piarco, Rowley said, “The Prime Minister has made all the statements covering it.” On Sunday, members of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force were due to demolish the religious structure which was constructed by a contractor engaged by the National Housing Au-thority (NHA) to construct apartments in the area.

However, Prime Min-ister Patrick Manning, in an attempt to avoid a confrontation with residents, cancelled a scheduled trip to Mexico and instead paid an unplanned visit to the area. Rowley confirmed the mosque is indeed constructed on NHA land, and that the contractor has since expressed his part in the construction of the mosque. Reports claimed that the mosque was to be used by members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, but that it would now be used as a community centre. Concluding that “the Prime Minister is the head of the Government and if he says that is the position, then that is the position,” he admitted that he “was just as surprised as everybody else.”