Mark Wignall | Shedding the light on shady matters

Drawn into the discussion of a big oil company arbitrarily terminating its contract with a gas station operator, the man met with me and told me of a situation which took place more than a few years ago.

“I was in a meeting with petroleum marketing companies when the general manager of (big oil company, name withheld) produced a receipt from (a haulage company) showing that it bought gas there for LESS THAN THE EX-REFINERY PRICE. The then minister (name withheld) totally ignored him, as laughter erupted around the conference table,” he said.

At some place in between the dour mood of the persistent pessimists and the bright faces of the eternal optimists, an admission has to be made that corruption at all levels in this country will not suddenly disappear just because every incoming prime minister promises a war on it by uttering impressive sounding words. Empty words of hope.

With Jamaica slipping a few places down on the Transparency International’s corruption Index, I am reminded of the young policeman showing up for his first day on the job, having just completed his training at the police academy. He has stars in his eyes and hope in his heart. He aims to make a difference in serving, protecting and reassuring.

A year later, the stars are dimmed and hope is replaced by hustling. The reality of the job claims him and oftentimes he does not like what he sees in the mirror.

I believe that a similar reality has faced many of those young and capable politicians entering representative politics, with their main objective ticked off as serving the people to the best of their abilities.

A few years later, too many of them become like newly born puppies, hungrily pushing each other aside as they fight to suckle at the sore teats of their severely malnourished mother.

PLAINLY STUPID

Now I find myself agreeing with a man whose politics and basic manners I consider odious. The Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Everald Warmington. Surely it must be a case of rubbing salt in the wounds of the nation that the management of the scandal plagued Petrojam gets to set out the terms of reference for a forensic audit into the huge multi-billion dollar oil losses there. That is just plainly stupid.

At one level, it could be claimed that the management knows best what ails the company. At the other end, it could be said that with the management setting the terms, it lays out the possibility and likelihood that it will deliberately set out restrictive terms. Quite foolish.

I also agree with the logical position taken by Public Accounts Committee chairman Mark Golding, when he said that, “It's like the person on trial choosing their own prosecutor, judge and jury…”

I confess not knowing the reasons why the JLP administration is insisting on making this deliberate error of judgment after it was so badly beaten up in the press over the initial Petrojam scandal, even though many of us know that Petrojam has been a feeding tree for the powerful and the well connected for decades now.

One hopes that with corruption having no plans to hop on a flight and leave us anytime soon, the personnel manning the desks at Access to Information (ATI) will shake off whatever lethargy that may have set in.

There are many matters pending and the public has the right to know about shady matters that have been long buried in many files. There are many agencies of government where audits are immediately needed. Those puppies who feed the best are quite fine with the feeding arrangements and want no change.

- Mark Wignall is a political- and public-affairs analyst. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com