Dear Editor,
One of the worst things that can happen to a person accustomed to spreading false information is for that person to believe his or herself. This also applies to organisations.
This seems to have happened to the APNU+AFC regime. During the PPP/C time in office those two parties exaggerated and blew out of proportion the issue of corruption. They repeated the lies so often that it seems that they have become victims of their own false propaganda.
That is why on assuming power they launched massive campaigns to find corruption of former PPP/Civic persons whilst in government.
SOCU was transformed from being an organization to fight money-laundering and drug trafficking into a body to harass the political opponents of the regime. Now, it’s the PPP/C members being persecuted, but later, the list will be broadened to include others, including those in civic society.
In fact, this has started. Already I have heard that prominent businesspersons who are fairly outspoken have been hauled in by SOCU. Edward Boyer and Gerry Gouveia among those being harassed.
As the regime pulls out all stops to attack those whom they feel are opposed to them, they have been violating our laws and trampling on our Constitution. They have illegally established SARA and appointed its Head and Deputy unlawfully. These are posts that by law should be appointed by the National Assembly.
The government has been throwing money away on hare-brained projects totally unnecessarily.
The budget for SARA is close to three hundred million dollars. Even though the state is paying such astronomical salaries, they are hiring high-priced consultants.
The Kaieteur News of February 24 last carried an article headlined ‘SARA owes Trinidad and UK Consultants Millions’. The article began with this telling sentence; ‘The State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) may be taken to court before it can file its first case…’
It went on to add that SARA owes thirteen million to two consultants. These are the Caribbean Institute of Forensic Accountants (CIFA) and to its Legal Advisor as well as a consultant, one Brian Horne.
This is after the government had earlier spent more than one hundred and fifty million dollars in conducting some 40 forensic audits that had already shown them that they were beating at the wrong bush.
However, the regime seems oblivious to the huge costs to our taxpayers. They continue to grasp at straws. That is what some of the charges amount to in relation to house lots among other accusations being made.
Now that they are facing this great embarrassment it appears that they are trying to frame people. It is clear that many of our Constitutional bodies have been transformed to serve two purposes. The first is to harass political opponents. The second is a corrupt one – they pay themselves and friends huge salaries to do little or nothing.
If they were serious about fighting corruption, then they would have been investigating the twelve million per month rent paid for a house to store drugs. They would have looked into the obvious corrupt D’Urban Park Project.
They would have been hard at work to investigate the procurement process where numerous allocations amounting to billions have been awarded without competitive bids at the Ministry of Public Health.
If they are serious about fighting corruption, then investigations into the granting of gun licences should be done now.
If they are serious about corruption they would have agreed and supported the proposal by the PPP/Civic in the National Assembly to have all members of Parliament going back ten years, declaring their assets, including any property held overseas. Anyone found guilty of putting false and misleading information would have to face compulsory prison terms.
Instead, of accepting this approach, they rejected it out of hand. That could have been an effective tool to clean-up public life.
Clearly we, as a nation, have lost a lot of resources because the leaders of APNU and AFC have become victims of their own lies!
Yours faithfully,
Donald Ramotar
Former President
