Robinson-Regis backs Rowley in invitation row with PNM

Camille Robin­son-Reg­is has voiced con­cern over con­flict­ing re­ports about for­mer Prime Min­is­ter and Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) po­lit­i­cal leader Dr Kei­th Row­ley’s at­ten­dance at the par­ty’s 70th an­niver­sary cel­e­bra­tions.

In a Face­book post to­day, she said Dr Row­ley’s decades of ser­vice to both the PNM and Trinidad and To­ba­go have been marked by lead­er­ship, in­tegri­ty, and ded­i­ca­tion to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment. She called it “both con­cern­ing and dis­ap­point­ing” that his state­ment of not be­ing in­vit­ed ap­pears to con­tra­dict the Par­ty’s claims.

“Cred­i­bil­i­ty and char­ac­ter must be giv­en their due weight. Dr Row­ley is not known to be care­less with the truth. His pub­lic life has been marked by forth­right­ness and ac­count­abil­i­ty, and there is no rea­son­able ba­sis to sug­gest that he would mis­rep­re­sent such a mat­ter,” Robin­son-Reg­is wrote.

She added that the is­sue is “big­ger than an in­vi­ta­tion. It is about re­spect, truth, and how we treat those who built this Par­ty.” Robin­son-Reg­is high­light­ed Dr Row­ley’s lead­er­ship, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing chal­leng­ing pe­ri­ods, as help­ing to steady the Par­ty and guide the coun­try, mak­ing any am­bi­gu­i­ty re­gard­ing his in­clu­sion in such a his­toric event “deeply con­cern­ing.”

The PNM is­sued a state­ment say­ing all mem­bers were pub­licly in­vit­ed and that a for­mal in­vi­ta­tion to Dr Row­ley was hand-de­liv­ered to his res­i­dence on Jan­u­ary 22nd. Hun­dreds of mem­bers at­tend­ed, in­clud­ing cur­rent and for­mer ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cers, Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment, and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials.

Dr Row­ley has main­tained he nev­er re­ceived the in­vi­ta­tion. “So, I am a liar! I will not be spar­ring with them. But I stand by my state­ment un­til the pi­geon makes the de­liv­ery,” he said, adding that there is no record of any let­ters at his home and ques­tion­ing who de­liv­ered them.