Transparent as tar and mud

I might have been speaking Dutch when in 2006 to 2007, I, along with other the sensible social commentators, pleaded with the People's National Party (PNP) to simply tell us the truth about its dealings with Netherlands-based oil-lifting company, Trafigura Beheer. However inappropriately the information was procured by the prophet Eli, it came to our attention, and a public, those uncommitted 20-plus per cent of voters who are neither Labourites nor Comrades wanted answers.

absolute truth needed

The same set of Jamaicans felt that despite the surreptitious agreement between the USA and the former minister of national security, and the so-called illegal wiretaps in the Manatt saga, three years later, the absolute truth needed to be revealed. In 2006-2007, this same son of Ivy warned my friends in the PNP, both privately and in conversations hidden in full view in this newspaper and on air, that the evasive behaviour and lack of transparency could cost them the election. It is not my intention to present myself as a prophet, but it was their loss.

Now, four years after then leader of Opposition, Bruce Golding, dropped the Trafigura bomb on us without warning, the principals of the party are fighting in the Supreme Court with the senior deputy director of public prosecutions (DPP) to enforce their constitutional right to silence. And they dare talk about transparency!

More ironic is that the lawyers for the PNP's 'bigwig' are the same dynamic duo - 'Sheriff' K.D. Knight and former Labourite Patrick Atkinson, who battled with the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) officers in the Manatt enquiry, and who lamented their aversion to telling the truth. And neither of them was pleased as Harold Brady, a lawyer himself, and the man who could have answered all the questions, maintained as much silence as the PNP president did on the Trafigura matter.

I am not a lawyer, and in any event, no one knows the law as well as K.D., as he noted on public television that the deputy DPP does not. However, the learned judge is of a different opinion and feels that the questions should be answered by the PNP officials. One argument of the PNP is that the matter was initiated on a political platform and is sheer politics. Of course, there is no doubt here, but so was the Manatt issue in 2010.

What matters is whether there is legal basis for the Dutch government to apply to the Jamaican Government for assistance in conducting investigations regarding the misconduct of Dutch citizens. Well, there is indeed a law which allows for this to occur, and the people from the Netherlands simply asked the Jamaican DPP to follow Jamaican law and give them the help.

I won't say much more about the case or what the outcome should be. However, while K.D. takes on the deputy DPP and stars another movie, the public is asking, what does the PNP have to hide? Sorry, K.D., this time I shoot the Sheriff but I will not shoot the deputy. This time, write her a note on paper if you want, but tell the boss to answer so that we can move on to other pressing issues, such as the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP), which the auditor general has exposed to be a den of incompetence and mismanagement, if not sheer corruption.

With as much egg on the face of Minister Mike Henry as would be needed to make a dozen omelettes, the first major discovery of the audit is that, clearly following the example of its minister, the National Works Agency (NWA) spent more than $100 million to refurbish its headquarters, perhaps to avoid working "in squalor".
Then, contracts were approved without going through the proper procedure, resulting in China Harbour pulling a googly and trumping competition which did not get to start. As a result, the Chinese, who interestingly we are indebted to for the money in JDIP, have China Harbour subcontracting more than $12 billion in work to subcontractors in circumstances where no contractual relationship exists among the ministry, the NWA and them.

That is as transparent as the mud which coats most of the roads which are yet to be touched except with expensive signs praising the unstarted work of JDIP and the Chinese. The only truth here is the occasional sign which correctly says, 'Slow men at work".

poor record-keeping

Add insult to injury, as there has been poor record-keeping, thus the full extent of the departure from proper procedure and lack of transparency cannot be evaluated. Nonetheless, Minister Henry seems incredulous and, at best, underinformed. Either way, it is dereliction or complicity, Mike, and hopefully you won't say, "Ask the NWA."

The nation should be grateful, if not indebted, to Omar Davies, who policed this matter with more vigilance than he did the financial sector when he was in charge. If it were not for him, this would be buried under layers of asphalt and marl. I also thank him for the correction last week regarding the inflation figures. However, the JDX did reduce the national debt, although other factors and borrowing pushed it up higher than when Omar left it.

Furthermore, I am unapologetic regarding my comments that his administration failed to stop the activities of Cash Plus et al. The fact is, these Ponzi schemes resulted in arrests and were terminated after he left office. No new laws have been passed, so he needs to tell us what was different after 2007 that caused this action to be taken in 2008, and not 2006.

Nevertheless, I know that being opposition spokesman on finance was not his full-time job, but he clearly did so well in that, as well as in his previous portfolio, that he was promoted to handle the awesome task of monitoring the activities of the NWA and transport ministry.

INSPORT report

Finally, the auditor general's damning report on the Institute of Sport (INSPORT) supports my thesis from last week about there not being much to choose between the two parties. Between 1992 and last year, no returns were made as required by the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act. Don't jump, no annual reports were prepared since 1978, when its present administrative director was in khaki uniform.

Another column is needed to outline the unapproved reclassification of posts or budget overruns and salary being paid to an employee who has not been to work since P.J. Patterson was prime minister. Still, INSPORT straddled four prime ministers and passed directly from one female sports minister to another. Both have been politicians from before INSPORT was formed and both are still in Parliament.

Say what you want, incompetence, corruption and sheer dishonesty have no 'manopoly'. Both political parties and their regimes over the past decades have much cause to be ashamed of. Now it is easy to understand how former Comrades are now Labourites, and vice versa.

Let's hope that they show us real differences as silly season continues, because the reasons are clear why there is a statistical dead heat.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.

PLEASE SEE mud, G11