Prime Minister Patrick Manning says that Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley will continue to be a member of the People’s National Movement team in the Parliament.

He made the comment yesterday, mere hours after he had attacked Rowley in a fiery debate in the Parliament, in which he claimed he had to fire Rowley from the Cabinet last year for unruly behaviour.

’Dr Rowley is a member of the People’s National Movement, has been for some time and continues to be so. Dr Rowley is the PNM representative in Parliament for the constituency of Diego Martin West,’ Manning said during a news conference at the Coco Reef Hotel in Tobago yesterday after a Cabinet meeting there, which was attended by Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London.

On Monday, in a fiery contribution to the debate on the Validation and Immunity from Proceedings Bill 2009, which validates the Commission of Enquiry into the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) and the construction sector, Rowley said the operations of the State- owned developer were of great concern to those in the PNM.

In a reply on Wednesday, however, Manning accused Rowley of becoming a ’raging bull’ when opposed, which was why he had to fire him from Cabinet last year and also accused him of joining with the faction in the Opposition, led by MPs Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Jack Warner and Winston ’Gypsy’ Peters.

The attack by Manning and several other PNM MPs led to concerns yesterday over the growing rift between Manning and Rowley.

In the calmer atmosphere at Coco Reef yesterday when asked if he still considered Rowley to be a member of the PNM and a colleague, and if the ongoing situation posed the risk of turning off PNM supporters in Tobago, Manning said, ’Dr Rowley remains a member of the PNM team in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. There have been issues, some of which came out in the Parliament yesterday and the day before, but the fact of the matter is that these are challenges that have to be addressed, and we will be seeking to address them and the political business of the country continues to progress.’

London added, ’if you look at any political organisation’ or any other group, ’there are times when there are going to be ups and downs’.

’People make their decisions to a large extent on self-interest and that is what it should be, the people of Tobago have to be concerned about how their lives as Tobagonians are to be impacted upon, and I believe all of these issues will be resolved as time goes on,’ London said.

He was also asked about the fact that several projects in Tobago being developed by UDeCOTT, including the Financial Complex, Roxborough Housing Development and the Scarborough Regional Library, have not been completed on time. He said UDeCOTT was not to blame, attributing the problem to the previous process of design/tender as opposed to its current design/build approach.