A qualified apology by Minister of State in the Ministry of the People, Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, over comments she made about People’s National Movement (PNM) leader Dr Keith Rowley has failed to quiet the chorus of calls for her resignation. PNM PRO Faris Al-Rawi and St Joseph MP Terrence Deyalsingh yesterday joined its Women’s League and other social and civil bodies chastising Alleyne-Toppin and calling for her resignation.
Speaking at a media conference at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain, the two described her words as “crass” and “baseless” and called for her immediate resignation. They said Rowley was in Tobago and was “disgusted” by what Alleyne-Toppin had said about his alleged past after the PNM walked out of the debate of no confidence against him on Wednesday.
“Mrs Alleyne-Toppin’s outburst yesterday was calculated. It was not one of chance. It is a well practiced speech on her part, so she cannot hide behind the facade that she was in some sort of emergency mode.” “
She sank to the lowest level of crassness this country has ever seen in all of its independence. Crassness to a degree that should not be tolerated and we should be calling for her resignation as a Minister of the People and she should resign her seat as a parliamentary representative, because you do not represent people in such a crass, baseless manner,” Deyalsingh said. Al-Rawi and Deyalsingh also said the PNM planned to drop a bomb today that would eradicate all the rumours and scrutiny placed on Rowley’s private life.
Al-Rawi confirmed that Rowley did in fact have a child before he was married and was the “proud father” of 46-year-old Garth Alleyne. Alleyne, Al-Rawi said, was also married and has a young child and they were all present at Rowley’s daughter’s wedding last year. He said Garth Alleyne was already 12 years old and in school when Rowley first entered politics and after decades, it was only now that his private life is bandied about by this Government. “Everybody knows about Dr Rowley’s son,” Al-Rawi said.
Questions raised
On Wednesday during her contribution to the motion of no confidence against Rowley, Alleyne-Toppin made reference to decades-old incidents, including that he was the product of a rape and knew of a planned gang-rape of another young girl who also bore a child out of that attack.
According to the unrevised Hansard, Alleyne-Toppin said if Rowley was present during the debate she would have asked him several questions, including if he knew “of any teacher at Roxborough Secondary School who was a tenant at his house on Chapel Street in Charlotteville or was he a tenant of this house in Charlotteville?” She said she would also question Rowley on whether he knew of a planned “four-man sampat” for an unsuspecting young girl.
“Did he know that the girl was kidnapped and kept detained for four hours against her will? Did he know that an inappropriate evil encounter resulted in the conception and birth of a boy child? I would ask him: Does he know who is the father of that boy child?” Alleyne-Toppin then said that she was not speaking from “stories,” but noted she shared a lineage with the Alleyne family and was speaking to matters involving her family.
“That is my father’s name and I am from that stock, that excellent Methodist family, the Alleyne clan from Charlotteville,” she added.
Revelation today
Al-Rawi yesterday challenged Alleyne-Toppin’s account. “It is an inveterate, unadulterated lie that she has told to the Parliament,” he said, calling on her to stop being a ‘coward’ and make her comments outside of parliamentary privilege so she could be sued by the PNM. “This issue of rape, we are going to deal squarely with tomorrow (today) and God help those wicked souls who have engaged in maligning and telling ridiculous lies to this country. We are going to lay it bare tomorrow,” Al-Rawi said.
He said the bombshell would answer the questions of why Alleyne-Toppin was telling so many “lies” about Rowley’s private life, his wife and children. He highlighted that House Speaker Wade Mark made no intervention during her contribution, even granting permission to use a picture as a prop. He said Government members seemed in support of her words by thumping their desks during the contribution.
“There was a very conspicuous silence by one (Prime Minister) Kamla Persad-Bissessar,” Al-Rawi said, adding that Persad-Bissessar “congratulated” Alleyne-Toppin after her contribution. “Tomorrow’s revelation is going to scandalise this country. It will demonstrate to this country that the Prime Minister is not all that she makes herself out to be if she presides over people like Mrs Alleyne-Toppin the way she did,” Al-Rawi said.
He said today’s bombshell would show evidence of criminal conduct and other very serious matters that Alleyne-Toppin and the rest of the Government would have to answer to. He promised “documentary and video evidence” of material that the citizens would want to see.