NO INTEGRITY

This was Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s description yesterday of the country’s premiere watchdog institution which he attacked for its previous treatment of both himself and Port of Spain South MP Marlene Mc Donald, whom he hired last Friday as Public Utilities Minister and fired on Sunday.

In a fighting mood at a media briefing at his office in St Clair, Rowley recounted his own experience of investigations against him by the Commission, leading him to conclude that the role of the Commission, was a “dark story” in matters of political investigations where people have been harmed.

At times, the PM became so agitated that he had to take several gulps of water to clear his throat.

Rowley sought to separate Sunday’s firing of McDonald from his decision to re-appoint her, which ended an almost two-year hiatus from the Cabinet. Rowley fired McDonald 16 months ago when he was confronted with allegations of misconduct in public office against her.

THEY FOUND NOTHING Referring to the Commission’s investigations of the Calabar matter which centered on McDonald during her stint in the then Patrick Manning administration, Rowley noted that the body issued a position to McDonald that they found no wrongdoing on her part on the related allegations.

“There was a government subsequent to the Manning government for five years that was hostile to all of us in the PNM and Ms McDonald, that found nothing to further it,” Rowley said. “Then the government changed again under my administration and it was said we have new information on Calabar and that formed part of a package of investigations and the Integrity Commission is investigating it.” “I as Prime Minister responsible for putting people in or out of the Cabinet, took the position that if it is the Calabar matter which dated back to the Manning government, which up to now the Integrity Commission cannot conclude whether the person has a charge to answer or not, that I will reinstate her.

“And I made it quite clear on the day I made that press conference (last Friday), that in the event that anything comes up in the future, I will not hesitate to deal with it.” Explaining why he took the position and re-instated Mc Donald, as he called on the country to pay attention to his actions, the Prime Minister said: “In Trinidad and Tobago, unfortunate as it is, there is an Integrity Commission that has no integrity.

And therefore, when I look at the overall situation of this particular matter in my own experience and the record of the Integrity Commission, I cannot but understand that it could very well be a situation where the Integrity Commission is playing in the politics of Trinidad and Tobago and people are being hurt in the process.” Rowley said the record will show, “the said Integrity Commission that is now saying, I (the Commission) exonerate this member of all charges identified, but there is another unnamed matter I am looking at, is the same Commission that ended prematurely, an investigation into the email matter.

This resulted in resignations of certain members of the said Commission after allegations of improper conduct levelled by other members of the Commission. As an Opposition MP, Rowley presented to Parliament a swathe of e-mails between members of the then PP government which was accused of, among other things, wanting to harm a journalist.

“And that action of the Commission is an action which resulted in a letter being made available to the then prime minister who was able to go to the Parliament and move a unique motion which has never been moved in any other parliament for a hundred years, and which resulted in the (then) Opposition Leader (Rowley) being expelled on the basis of a letter provided by the Integrity Commission,” Rowley said.

I DID NOT MISLEAD TT Rowley said it is against this background, that he took the position that if the Commission could not tell him what they were holding over McDonald’s head, while exonerating her on specific allegation which they investigated, “then I will put her back in Cabinet and whenever they are able to determine what exactly they are investigating and what she is guilty of, I will then act.” He said this is his position, adding, “I stand in front of the people of Trinidad and Tobago on that.

Because we have a history. We have experience and we know exactly how far down the totem pole we have fallen in this country. So I am not prepared to accept from anybody that I have misled the population or I have lied to the population. What I did was an action I was prepared to defend.” Rowley pointed out that being under an Integrity Commission investigation does not automatically result in resignation or dismissal from office. He said the record will show that serious allegations were made against him as a Minister of government under the Manning administration.

“It triggered two investigations,” Rowley recounted. “One was an Integrity Commission investigation for criminal conduct. Two , I was under a Commission of Inquiry for the same matter.” Rowley said he stood his ground and told the population that his accusers were not speaking the truth.

He said the outcome of the investigation was a notification from the Commission that there was no basis to support the charges made against him. But Rowley said this did not prevent the Commission from sending a package of lies to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) which they could not defend in court. He added that when he took the Commission to court, members had to resign in disgrace for having conducted themselves improperly against him, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago