THE Prime Minister said he is able to cope with problems facing Trinidad and Tobago because of help from women including his ministers, but asked the public to help him handle the covid19 pandemic. Dr Rowley shared these insights at the commissioning of the Malabar Government Primary School near Arima on Thursday.
He said TT always has many problems to be solved, and that is the role of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM.)
"As a politician you know that where there is no pavement in a community you walk with your life in your hand and you may not be able to cross a drain. Then you build a pavement and the minute that cement is dry everybody forgets what used to exist before and points you to the next problem down the road to be addressed."
He said such is the job at the OPM.
"But sometimes I'm asked, 'What keeps you going? How do you manage?' I reply that I see progress. I expect progress. I see progress and every step along the way that you make progress that comes as a reinforcement, a rejuvenation, for me to keep going moving forward to solving the other problems."
He highlighted the Tobago ferries, Point Fortin highway and the new Malabar school. He said the later signalled TT's future was assured, despite the pandemic.
Relating that local pupils had been housed in container-like structures, he said, "I just want to thank all the citizens who didn't those circumstances to overcome them but to have confidence in the governance structure of the country that where there are problems an honest attempt will be made to solve them."
Rowley said while each person has his/her own problem, all problems ended up in the OPM, directly or indirectly.
"So how does the Prime Minister manage to identify, work and solve these problems. I can tell you how I do that.
"I rely on the women in this country. I rely on the women in this country to steer us out."
He said the President of the Republic, Speaker, Senate President and Leader of Government Business in Parliament were all women.
"That takes care of the parliamentary business, in good hands."
The PM said children matters and education were also in the hands of women.
"In the OPM I'm pleased to tell you that the Minister for Gender Affairs is a woman, the MP for Tobago East Mrs Ayanna Webster-Roy, a mother of young children. The Minister in the Ministry of Education, representing this constituency (D'Abadie/O'Meara) is another woman, representative (Lisa) Morris-Julian), another mother of young children."
Rowley said Minister Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly was also a woman and a mother of children.
"I can tell you that arrangement, that outcome, makes the job of the Prime Minister so much easier, because these citizens go beyond the call of duty representing all the people who identify these very many problems that we live with every day. They set about, like the mothers in the homes, set about in the Government to try to get those problems solved."
He hailed female health officials combating covid19, plus female leaders in the education min
