GEISHA KOWLESSAR & RACHAEL ESPINET
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley last night apologised for the “dog and cyat” statement he made last week which has been seen by many as a sexist attack on women and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Speaking during a PNM cottage meeting at the Mt D’or Community Centre in St Joseph, Rowley noted that if he had resorted to his “Tobago genealogy” in “invoking the concept of ‘tit for tat’ and it had offended any person in this country, “I’m in the service of the people of this country and I’m not in the business of offending anyone. So therefore I have regrets on that. That wasn’t my intention of offending anyone.”
During a political meeting in Brazil last week, Rowley said: “She could jump high, she could jump low. She could drink this, she could drink that, she could bark at my dog because I will ignore she kyat.”
Rowley had come under fire for the comment, with several women’s groups calling for an apology. However, he had refused to do so until last night, when he addressed the matter first up in his feature address.
Earlier on during a walkabout in the community, Rowley said he was not perturbed about today’s motion of no confidence debate against him filed by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Asked if he was prepared for today’s motion, he said, “I am not surprised that it has come from where it came from. I would be the most disappointed person if the Prime Minister had confidence in me. She certainly has no confidence in me…I am not surprised.”
While not all members of the Opposition bench are from the PNM, Rowley confidently stated that all his members would be supporting him.
“I have confidence that I have the full support of the PNM. I am the Opposition Leader until something else turns up.
“What can I say? Everybody is interested in the PNM’s business, and we are flattered by that because we are a 60-year-old party. And we lead in terms of political arrangements, so everybody is interested in what the PNM does.”
Addressing the looming “Marlene-gate” which the PM said she would expose during the UNC’s Monday Night Forum, Rowley said the PM and the Cabinet have many ‘Gates’ of their own.
Persad-Bissessar made the reference to Port-of-Spain MP Marlene McDonald as she showed supporters a massive red file during the Debe meeting.
Addressing this yesterday, Rowley said,“It has so many gates: there are more gates than fences. She has Prison-gate, E-mailgate, Kamla-gate. Balisier House has one gate. If she is looking for gates then she should look at our gates and see what real gates look like,” he said, adding the Prime Minister is just “delaying the obvious” and is “demeaning the Office of the Prime Minister.”