Rocky Road to Whitehall

After I parked my car behind Stollmeyer’s Castle, I clattered around the uneven path in unaccustomed heels up to the security entrance to Whitehall, the magnificent Venetian style palazzo that has been the Prime Minister’s office for the past year.

Ushered into the splendid room where I waited to interview Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, I had a swift and surreal sense of the meshing of centuries and continents in this new world.

Whitehall was built in 1904 with brilliant white coral stone from Barbados in the style of Italian palaces. I could see it in this room, with its decorated ceilings rimmed with white cornices, against the palest apple green wall, the chandeliers dull gold light mingling with the tropical afternoon.

It was an interview I had been trying to get for some time, since Dr Rowley was not the easiest man to read or understand given his fiery reputation of having something of a combative nature.

I wanted some insight on the Prime Minister he is today, where he plans to lead these small island states under challenging times.

My father recalls the time when as Rotary president in Tobago he invited Dr Rowley to speak on the geology of Tobago and instead of the ten minutes allotted to him spoke for over an hour to a rapt audience who wanted more. A man who could make rocks intriguing requires closer examination.

I was only dimly aware of his career, as opposition senator, and opposition MP in the PNM (1987 - September 7, 1990.) Then came the slew of ministerial appointments from 1992 to 2007 variously in the Agriculture Ministry, Planning Ministry and Housing Ministry. This last appointment ended abruptly on November 9, 2003, after then Prime Minister Patrick Manning fired him as Housing Minister for carrying on like a “ruffian” in a Cabinet meeting.

Dr Rowley denied that he had behaved in an unparliamentary manner and said he was fired for questioning why billions were being made available to UDeCOTT without accountability.

Following that incident and given that Dr Rowley was stuck with unflattering appellations such as “Rottweiler” that came from his leadership, it was surprising that he beat the challenge for the leadership in the PNM and led the party to victory in 2015.

Undoubtedly, Dr Rowley has made his fair share of mistakes. Equally, he’s paid. He’s had to dodge land mines all around. When I walked in his office, he had his mask on, stood up courteously, and only took his mask off when I was a safe distance away to speak.

When he saw my eyes on the ceiling and gorgeous interior of his office he said, as if reading my mind: “Yes people complained that too much was spent on Whitehall, Stollmeyer’s Castle, Red House, President’s House, but this is our heritage.”

Sometimes he just hands you the grenades to throw at him. As the interview progressed and the afternoon light brightened, I saw the multi-layered personality behind the crustacean exterior.

A man pummelled with a lifetime of criticism, remains somewhat sensitive to it yet does not go out of his way to be “liked”. He is who he is. A man who is pragmatic to a fault, who has an absolute sense of what is correct and what is corrupt. A man prepared to eschew public relations and diplomacy to guard the sovereignty of the people he leads.

I did not and could not get a complete insight into the Prime Minister, in this two-part interview but I got a sense of his complexity and a growing sense of responsibility to the nation he serves during a pandemic. From Mason Hall to White Hall indeed.

The grandmother who raised him would have some things to say about that.