Every Prime Minister has his share of memorable quotes.
Dr Eric Williams’ quotes were nation-building, Basdeo Panday was often sharp and witty, but Dr Keith Rowley was a Prime Minister tailor-made for the “meme” era. His sharp, sometimes acerbic retorts were perfect for “video reactions” or gifs—videos that described how you felt better than you ever could yourself.
“Dotish!” or “Foolishness” or “Poppycock!”
Prime Minister Rowley’s straight-shooting never minced words, especially in defence of his truth, if he felt his words were being misconstrued or there was deliberate misinformation being peddled.
It would be the pandemic and Rowley’s weekly, hour-long press conferences where he’d show his full mettle.
“As of midnight tonight…” still remains four haunting words which followed some new imposition.
He’d send social media into a tailspin when, quoting a calypso, which encapsulated the sentiments of those calling for citizens to be responsible. He said, “Don’t jack*** the thing!”
Or when he felt the public was overly sceptical about the vaccine but would use all kinds of untested remedies he said, “Who in this audience will tell me what is the side effect of using horny goat weed?”
In explaining the strict quarantine policy he sent everyone to their editions of Cote Ci Cote La to look up the meaning of the words manimar or hassikara—referring to people who created chaos over the quarantine arrangements.
“You only come out after a certain condition is met. And that condition is not to call up irresponsible politicians in Trinidad and Tobago who then start to make hassikara to demand that all the plans that we put in place should be disregarded.”
Rowley even posted a copy of the definition to his Facebook page with the quote.
Dr Jo Ann Ferreira, UWI lecturer in linguistics said proverbs basically summarise the wisdom of the elders and traditional wisdom has passed on through the years through speech.
She said for Rowley, as a Tobagonian, he’d know how the public perceived him as well, which is why he would lean into that speech.
And as a public figure, he could easily switch between an official language and a vernacular language.
“I think anybody who has language sensitivity has been raised with people who have a strong connection to their language and identity, will be free to use it in certain circumstances to appeal, to either appeal to people, or put people in their place,” she said.
Rowley often used the vernacular to dress down, like when the borders remained closed, Rowley told a story of a friend who reached out to him hoping to get an exemption to come home. However, at the time, the exemptions were only valid for T&T passport holders. But his friend, having dual citizenship had let his T&T passport expire.
“I say stay dey!” Rowley recounted. “They say dog foot break he find him master yard!”
“That’s a good one. I haven’t heard that in a long time,” Dr Winford James said recalling the statement. “So you go to the place of comfort. That’s what is happening there. When you’re in trouble, you go to the place of comfort.”
James’ degree focuses on languages and linguistics. He said Rowley was an intellectual like Dr Eric Williams before him but preferred the use of colloquialism to standard English. James said Rowley is also a ‘limer’ so he would be more inclined to use those turns of phrases.
As far as effectiveness, James said Rowley’s were counterbalanced with sometimes the harsh truths that came with them.
“If he could have kept to just the sayings and not have the negatives associated with some of the statements that he made, that would have been very good for him. The problem with him is that he says these, these very interesting things and at the same time, he comes out and says things that people are not happy with him about. So the question is the kind of balance that he should have maintained with a statement that could have made him likeable, or could have improved his likability.”
One such statement that’s reverberated for years, would be his reiteration over the future of Petrotrin.
“The Government is not closing down Petrotrin and in case you were just opening your fridge and you didn’t hear that when you closed the door, let me repeat it, the Government is not closing Petrotrin!” Rowley said.
In early 2017, the outgoing Prime Minister also came under fire for telling women to choose their men wisely.
“I am not in your bedroom. I am not in your choice of men,” he said then.
Rowley also used his farming background to enhance his descriptors. As a farmer, he had his unique sayings. In 2019 he derailed a press conference full of reporters when he asked if Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had “pip.” The members of the media who had never heard the term used up considerable time asking him to explain the term.
“If you had grown up the way I had grown up, raising yard fowl, you would know there is something called pip. And when the fowl has pip, it can’t feed. So it is not all the time that people like Mrs Persad-Bissessar can talk, sometimes they have pip and if she has pip she can’t talk,” Rowley explained.
Even in his last interview, which aired Thursday night, he described how he felt after going out of his way to introduce a young Farley Augustine-led administration into governance only to be betrayed, “You who do good for jumbie, is you jumbie eh frighten.”
Cabinet shares their
favourite quotes
Guardian Media reached out to Cabinet Ministers to ask them which of Rowley’s quotes stood out to them.
In 2020 Randall Mitchell was not chosen to recontest his San Fernando East seat.
Mitchell said to Guardian Media, “A few days later, in a short, private phone call with me, he uttered, ‘You never know where wind does come from to lean fowl tail’.”
Mitchell admitted he had to look it up. But said his understanding was that it meant, ‘You never know how quickly and how unexpectedly things can change for the better.’
Mitchell, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, will contest the La Brea seat in the upcoming election.
For Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne, the most important advice he said the Prime Minister gave him was, “Amery when you stand on principle, history will always judge you kindly, and your decisions will stand the test of time.”
Scotland also recalled Rowley talking about how difficult Trinidad and Tobago is to govern.
“If you throw a bottle in the air in Independence Square, any head it land on has an idea of how to govern!” Scotland quoted.
Both Ministers Browne and Scotland also said the same phrase stood out to them.
“When you are in charge even if it is for a day...TAKE CHARGE!”
They understood it to mean, don’t lead halfway when you have to lead in any capacity or at any level.
For Stuart Young two simple quotes stuck out, “work is for young people,” and “make decisions based on principles.”
Young said for him they mean, “Dr Rowley always encouraged his Cabinet to work hard, to give your best and to serve the population. There would be difficult decisions and choices to make along the way but once you stuck to principle it would always work out eventually if not immediately. Governing is not for the weak hearted but it is very rewarding to contribute to the development of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Young has few quotables of his own except for an overreliance on the word “etcetera” and the occasional “steups”, but there’s time yet.
