Rowley calls on PM to apologise over ‘racist’ Independence Day speeches

Former Prime Minister Keith Rowley has described Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Independence Day messages as “a disgusting, racist speech” and urged her to apologise to the nation.

In a Facebook post, Rowley accused Persad-Bissessar of fuelling racial and social division in Trinidad and Tobago. He said her return to government showed no intention of building on existing foundations or keeping promises of a better life, but instead reflected anger and a desire for vengeance against sections of the population she believed had kept her out of office for a decade.

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I am calling on her to apologise to the nation for defiling our 64th anniversary of Independence with the publication of her vile racist rubbish, which threatens peace, prosperity and stability of the country.

Rowley said criticism of her leadership and Cabinet appointments was separate from what he considered the more serious issue: the publication of two “dangerously disgusting racist speeches” during the country’s 2026 Independence celebrations. He said the matter had moved beyond political “picong” into “naked racism and the worst form of divide and rule.”

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This is naked racism and the worst form of divide and rule.

He specifically criticised what he called Persad-Bissessar’s racial appeal to rural Indians, saying she had encouraged them to feel separate from other groups and to direct hostility at people accused of looking down on Indian communities. Rowley said other groups had also faced poverty and deprivation, and warned that such politics could destabilise a multi-racial or multi-ethnic society.

“Harmony in our diversity is probably our greatest success,” Rowley wrote. He said previous prime ministers, presidents and governors-general had not tried to organise the country’s social structure in such a way, and added that he would not accept further attacks on that harmony.

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Harmony in our diversity is probably our greatest success.