Dr Lowe on the mend - by Emmanuel Joseph April 17, 2018

Rumours of the demise of embattled Minister of the Environment Dr Denis Lowe have been greatly exaggerated.

In a statement issued by his attorney Michael Yearwood, QC, earlier today, Lowe sought to make it clear that not only was he no longer hospitalized, but that contrary to an earlier report by Barbados TODAY his health condition was not at all serious.

In fact, Lowe said his recent hospitalization was on account of a knee injury for which he had to undergo surgery earlier this month.

“It has been drawn to my client’s attention that you have posted on your Facebook page the following of, and concerning him, ‘Cabinet minister Denis Lowe remains hospitalized in serious condition’.

“My client wishes to place on record that that headline is entirely false and misleading.

“Dr Lowe is not hospitalized. Further the condition is not serious. Dr Lowe had an injury to his knee that required surgical intervention. The surgery was completed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on the 4th day of April, 2018.

“It was a success. Dr Lowe was duly discharged from hospital and is at home recuperating. He expects to be back to full fitness within the next two to three weeks,” the letter from Lowe’s attorney said.

When contacted by Barbados TODAY this afternoon, an annoyed Lowe also dismissed the recent report on his health condition as false, but refused to entertain any form of discussion on the matter.

With questions still being asked publicly about whether he will be fit enough to contest the upcoming general election due in a matter of weeks, General Secretary of the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) George Pilgrim yesterday denied reports that Lowe was to be replaced by Director of the Urban Development Commission Derek Alleyne as the DLP’s candidate for Christ Church East.

Before that, the unofficial campaign manager of the DLP, Robert Bobby Morris, had also sought to assure DLP supporters in Christ Church East earlier this month that not only would the ailing Lowe run again, he would win again.

“I spoke to Dr Lowe yesterday and he asked me to bring greetings to you. He wants you to know that he is recovering and he intends to fulfil his duties. He is asking you to hold faith with him and he knows that you will say yes,” Morris had said in support of Lowe, who was absent from the branch meeting at St Christopher Primary School.

However, the former diplomat had refused to confirm the nature or the severity of the incumbent’s illness, arguing that to do so would be to invade Lowe’s privacy.

“If there is anything I will never do, is to discuss people’s personal business in an open forum because I would not want it done to me. If I was sick, no matter whether it was easy sick or big sick, it is something to deal with under a certain cloak. It is not to be exposed. Even though it is of some importance, that is not what you do,” Morris had stated then.

Since Parliament was dissolved on March 6, Lowe has not been on any political platform for the DLP, nor has he been seen publicly in his official capacity as Minister of Drainage and the Environment.

Notwithstanding, Morris had told party faithful they ought not worry about Lowe, who first won the seat in 2008 when he defeated the Barbados Labour Party’s Reginald Farley by 918 votes, and held on to it in 2013 by a slightly reduced margin of 768 votes.

“He is a good man and that is the most important thing. His heart is in the right place and his body is where his heart is. His mind is very good and those are that the things that you need to understand. His spirit is excellent. That is all you have to know,” Morris had added.