FOR someone schooled in the unexciting field of volcanoes, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has a showy sense of theatre.
Aside from his 2009 parliamentary attack on then-leader Patrick Manning and 2013 emailgate trickery, Rowley recently used dramatic flair in summoning a midnight Cabinet meeting to remove the Strategic Services Agency chief.
He then commandeered the House of Representatives to pronounce that a “cult” in the elite spy agency was planning a coup against his regime.
Rowley’s explosive allegation – like emailgate – turned into a dud.
Now, the Prime Minister has again opted for his well-worn theatrics.
In a melodramatic manner, he called a meeting of his National Security Council and railroaded members on the need for a State of Emergency even though he had damned such a measure in 2011.
He said that SoE led to arrests of innocent people, without evidence, for which the State had to pay compensation.
In his exaggerated manner, he has thrown his old cast of discredited ministers to justify the shock measure.
Accustomed to passive media, labour and other institutions, Rowley probably expected a free pass.
But pressure does bus’ pipe!
The murder toll of some 640 this year in a population of 1.5 million is, per capita, comparable to that of Haiti, where 5,000 were murdered in the land of 11.7 million.
The United Nations terms Haiti “a failed State.”
Rowley has also ignored repeated pleas to plug leaky borders and utilise American support to nab gun and drug transshipment big-pappies.
Venezuelan Tren de Aragua mercenaries – described by the United States as “dangerous” and “a threat” – have, for months, been carrying out hits in T&T and fleeing on pirogues.
The gang, which has terrorised several Latin American countries, has a presence in the US, where the Federal Bureau of Investigations is taking a tough stand.
The Rowley Government has ignored intelligence on these and other heavily armed and violent organised criminals and has politicised the SSA.
While the Prime Minister may have felt his knee-jerk response would win him appreciation as an action man, he did not bargain for the country’s radically changing mood.
Besieged by relentless blood-letting, more and more agonised nationals are outraged at the inaction and insensitivity, with the same inept players asked to solve the crisis.
That’s why journalist Akash Samaroo’s daring question to failed minister Fitzgerald Hinds has touched a national nerve.
Society has unmasked Rowley as indulging in theatrical horseplay while brutal murderers stalk the land.
