Newsday Newspaper

BY RIA TAITT

There are some things about Housing Minister Dr. Keith Rowley with which everyone, friend and foe, agree: he has an undoubted ability to engage any audience; he can think on his feet like few others can; and he is able to use his sharp intellect with forensic effect to pick out weaknesses in his opponents and to advance his political cause. In short, he is good on the ‘stump’.

And perhaps because of this, he is also not one to run from a fight. He was as the forefront as the PNM effectively carried the corruption battle to top UNC politicians during its opposition days; he tackled the, still unsettled, Landate issue head-on; he was at the centre of a tea room brawl with Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma (an event, which began the bleeding of the UNC leading to the loss of Gillian Lucky and Fuad Khan); and when the PNM lost office in the 1995 general election, he challenged Patrick Manning for the leadership of the party in 1996. Now, ironically he’s batting for the PM on the smelter issue. Newsday spoke to him at his Goodwood Park home.

Rowley versus Manning: the leadership challenge

Stemming from that challenge, have you and the Prime Minister solved whatever problems the two of you had?

“My aspiration in 1996 dealt with a particular situation – which was the need for the PNM to have a validated political leader. And out of that came a convention and contest for the political leadership and eventually an elected political leader. I distinctly recalled that one week after, at a press conference I made it abundantly clear that I accepted the convention result; that I did not intend to lead a parallel organization; and that I will continue to be a contributor to the PNM and to national development. And that position remains.”

Rowley says he and the Prime Minister enjoy an “excellent working relationship’ which was based on “mutual respect”. “There are times when we don’t see eye to eye. But I’ll tell you one thing, my view will always be aired and it would be listened to. And one cannot ask for more than that,” he says.

Leadership ambitions?

Asked if he still entertains leadership ambitions, Rowley’s response is judicious and cautious. “I wasn’t driven by leadership ambitions in 1996. The circumstances warranted my intervention and I made it,” he said. He added that he would like to consider himself an asset to the PNM and he was prepared to serve in whatever capacity, as and when the party required.

The Housing Challenges:

Challenge number one: Satisfying the Demand

The housing ministry is one where there is an objective criterion to asses the minister’s on this basis, Rowley seems to be doing quite well. The PNM’s manifesto pledge to the electorate was to supply 10,000 houses a year and his ministry is churning out 8,000 houses a year while providing incentives to the private sector to deliver another 2,000. Achieving the target, he notes is no mean feat, especially when compared to the UNC’s output of  “461 houses in six years” and the NAR’s even more dismal record. But Rowley has not received resounding praise. The housing stock is so poor and people so desperate for houses, that 8,000 plucked from a database of 70,000 aspirants still leaves 60,000 restless people, some of whom have been waiting for over ten years.

“Because of the number of applicants and because of the rate at which we can reasonably build houses, there will be a waiting period. And even at our high rate of production it will take years to eliminate the backlog,” the Minister says. Except,” he points out, “that in this time, they (applicants) are waiting with hope, because houses are being built. If you applied 10 to 15 years ago you were applying with no hope…for something that didn’t exist.”

Rowley says because houses were not built in the 11 years of other governments, the chronic shortage of houses was exacerbated. “If there is one area where the PNM has a policy that is diametrically opposed to our opponents it is in the area of housing,” he said. He claims that former Housing Minister John Humphrey, who straddled both the NAR and UNC administrations, was the main architect of that policy which said that Government had no role in building houses. The PNM on the other hand, since 1956, took the position that Government had a direct role in the creation of an expanded housing stock.

 

Challenge number two: Nobody wants Government housing in their neighborhood

The other hurdle that Rowley faces as Government pursues an aggressive housing construction programme, is the resistance from settled communities, including other public housing estates, to the newer “arrivals” (projects). “There is a new word in the English language (for this) – Nimbyism (Not in my back yard – NIMBY).”

Rowley attributes this “nimbyism” to “the poor community quality that was associated with NHA.” “We are trying to change that and this is why we created the HDC, to create a new culture of improved community, better architectural designs, and better use of neighborhoods.

“We are learning from the past. We are taking care in the planning. We are not building houses and just walking away. We are trying to put into those estates certain infrastructural support systems (school, kindergarten, police station, bus terminus) that will not allow them to become orphan communities” he says.

He adds that he believes the Ministry was succeeding, judging by the reviews it had received  on the new communities of East Grove in Curepe, and Cleaver Heights

 

Challenge number three: Government housing is not free

The third challenge for the Housing Minister is the view held by some beneficiaries of public housing that is free.

He has a message for tenants and homeowners. “There is no such thing as “free housing,” there is government subsidized housing. And if we supply you with a house at affordable rent or mortgage at significant subsidies, the least you could do is meet your part of the bargain and pay. And if people are not prepared to do that, then we have no choice but to take action against them and that action involves eviction. From time to time certain people may come into financial difficulties. We open our doors and we say ‘talk to us and we can work out some arrangement’. But some people deliberately do not live up to their responsibilities,”   he says. He adds that because the ministry was approaching this aspect with the same seriousness as it approached construction, there had been an improvement in the collection of rents and mortgages. 

Squatting: The perennial challenge

Will squatting ever stop? “People keep trying to squat,” Rowley concedes. But he notes that the ministry, in keeping with the law, was “aggressively discouraging” new squatting, while regularizing and upgrading traditional squatting communities, such as Caroni Village, Bon Air North and Wallerfield.

“If you see us demolishing any structures, it is new squatting,” he assures.

Opposition allegations

Rowley is dismissive of the UNC’s allegations of house-padding and discrimination saying that Government’s housing policy is comprehensive, encompassing rural and urban, central, (east-west) corridor and Tobago. “They (the Opposition) have opposed every single one of our building sites. When we build in PNM-held constituencies, we are accused of discrimination, sometimes with racial overtones. When we build in areas held by the Opposition, they say we are trying to dilute their support,” he notes.

PNM’s electoral chances

Rowley is optimistic about the PNM’s electoral chances. “What we (the PNM) are doing for the country as against what other organizations hold out…I think the country is well served by the PNM, which is head and shoulders above everyone else in the politics. As an organization we are respectful and respectable. And I am proud to be PNM,” he says. He said he is also gratified that the constituency he represents  - Deigo Martin West – is one of the best development places in the country and “there is more to come” in terms of schools, roads, health centres etc.

Life outside and beyond politics

Despite the fact that Rowley, who has been in politics for 26 years and in Parliament for 20 years, seems to be immersed in the politics, he is acutely aware of the need to have a life outside of politics.

“It is possible to give your whole life to this thankless job and then when you do get out of office, there will be those who say you never existed, and that you were never there. So knowing that…I pay attention to my family, my friends, my personal needs for space, recreation and pleasures,” he says. The former head of Seismic Research also said that he missed the “stimulating” life of academia, “my first preference”. 

The Tobago roots

Born in Tobago, Rowley owns a home in Mason Hall, built on property inherited from his grandfather, to which he enjoys returning on many weekends.

 “It allows me to come back to my job refreshed… Sometimes people ask me ‘how you manage to work in this stressful job’. Stress is something you could take or you could make. I don’t take it and I don’t make it. I try to cope with it.”