Rowley denies being on T&TEC ‘secret list’

For­mer Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has de­nied claims by Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar that he and his wife were among in­di­vid­u­als placed on a “se­cret list” at the Trinidad and To­ba­go Elec­tric­i­ty Com­mis­sion (T&TEC) that pre­vent­ed dis­con­nec­tion for un­paid bills.

Row­ley is­sued the de­nial in a Face­book post on Mon­day, hours af­ter Per­sad-Bisses­sar made the al­le­ga­tion dur­ing her con­tri­bu­tion to the Mid-Year Bud­get Re­view in Par­lia­ment.

Dur­ing her pre­sen­ta­tion, the Prime Min­is­ter named sev­er­al peo­ple and en­ti­ties she claimed were linked to the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM), in­clud­ing Row­ley and his wife, Sharon Row­ley. She al­leged they were on a list of cus­tomers whom T&TEC could not dis­con­nect even if they were in de­fault of bill pay­ments.

Re­spond­ing to the claim, Row­ley said he was un­aware of any such list and in­sist­ed that both he and his wife paid their elec­tric­i­ty bills when due.

“I am un­aware of be­ing on any list at TTEC. I pay all my elec­tric­i­ty bills as and when they be­come due at prop­er­ties in Trinidad and To­ba­go. That holds good for my wife as well,” Row­ley wrote.

He added: “I have nev­er re­quest­ed nor was of­fered any pro­tec­tion from TTEC billing op­er­a­tions.”

The for­mer prime min­is­ter al­so launched a sharp at­tack on Per­sad-Bisses­sar, ac­cus­ing her of fail­ing to fo­cus on the coun­try’s af­fairs.

“For all those who think we have a Prime Min­is­ter look­ing af­ter the se­ri­ous busi­ness of man­ag­ing the coun­try’s af­fairs, I have al­ready ad­vised you that what we have is a hate­ful, dic­ta­to­r­i­al jam­mette who wish­es to be feared like her men­tor,” Row­ley wrote.