Express wrong again on Rowley THE Sunday Express, in yet another editorial based on erroneous information published on Sunday April 20, 2014 has once again displayed open bias against PNM Political Leader, Dr Keith Rowley, and a brutal disregard of the facts on record including in your own newspaper. In the editorial titled ‘Does Balisier House back THA self-rule plan?’, the Express editorial writer seems unaware that the PNM changed its constitution in a well-publicised convention held at the St Augustine Secondary School on Sunday December 2, 2012, that was widely reported, including in the Express, to give the Tobago Council of the PNM, precisely the kind of autonomy which the island of Tobago is now seeking in national affairs. The PNM at a convention in March 2011, which was attended and reported on by all media, had previously passed a resolution supporting the changes being advocated by the Tobago Council. The party also amended its own constitution to give effect to the letter and spirit of what is being demanded in Tobago. The amendment to the PNM constitution gave the Tobago Council full autonomy to elect its own political leader, who serves as a deputy political leader of the PNM, and to screen its own candidates for elections whether at the general election or Tobago House of Assembly level. The answer to the question of whether Balisier House supports Tobago’s aspiration for full autonomy was, therefore, answered at the convention where the resolution supporting that constitutional change was overwhelmingly adopted giving the Tobago PNM, self-rule. It was on this basis, the Tobago PNM approached the Tobago electorate in the 2013 general election and was given an unprecedented 12-0 mandate while its main competitor, the Tobago Organization of the People, campaigned under the direction of the People Partnership and was wiped out. This was despite an attempt by the People’s Partnership administration to introduce at the last minute, in a middle of an election, a bill that was repugnant to the expressed will of Tobagonians gleaned form a series of consultations conducted by a team of eminent Tobagonians. It was Dr Rowley, who interrupted his presence assisting the THA’s election campaign in Tobago, who had to rush back to Parliament and lead the PNM’s opposition to that Bill, which saw its repudiation. Given that these facts were widely reported, including in all three daily newspapers, one has to question the recurring tendency to target Dr Rowley’s leadership by Express editorial writers who continue to display gross ignorance of the PNM’s history and seem unaware of even contemporary political developments. Against these facts the Express arrives at a startling position in the editorial: “That the rhetoric coming out of the Tobago Council of the PNM has yet to find echoes in Balisier House, Port of Spain, may be a measure of the slowness of change accomplished since 2010 under political leader Dr Keith Rowley, himself Tobago-born. “ It is as if the convention of December 2, 2012 never happened. Coming so soon after your newspaper in an editorial criticised Dr Rowley for fraternising with an outstanding former MP, who was unflatteringly described as a “notorious motor mouth”, and also displayed ignorance of the role and qualifications for Youth Officer under the PNM constitution, one is left to wonder at the message being sent to the national population. The PNM respects the media’s right to report and criticise but requests only that in commenting on the business of the country’s oldest and most respected political organization, due credit must be given to the facts before formulating opinions. Ashton Ford General Secretary
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 16:55:06 +0000
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