‘…We are not Serious…
from the first verse of ‘Dis Place nice’ by Brother Valentino
Very few Conscious…
So I cannot agree with mih own Chorus!…’
‘…Your silence will not protect you…’
Caribbean Philosopher Audre Lorde, on the false beliefs and toxic consequences earned from calculated or cowardly silences
“Last call to all corporates. Support this worthy NGO if you can,” was the rallying note from an erstwhile Colleague who had served on the Board of the T&T Transparency Institute (TTTI). This was an appeal to boost ticket sales for the TTTI’s fundraising dinner carded for 22 May 2024, but it ultimately provoked me into making these pointed observations, so here goes.
For a some years now, it has become increasingly clear that TTTI had drifted from its purpose with less and less work, of lower and lower quality, emerging from that NGO of which I am an Ordinary Member. One can scarcely believe that this was once a vibrant, outspoken and well-informed NGO with dedicated leaders such as Victor Hart, Richard Joseph, Deryck Murray and Annette des Iles, not that we can ever forget the recently departed Reginald Dumas and Boyd Reid.
I am making serious alIegations, so let me show the extent to which the TTTI has strayed from its purpose. Apart from its bewildering silence and lack of support during the recent campaign to have the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act proclaimed, one can scarcely recall the last time any TTTI Representative was on TV, Radio or in the printed Press.
TTTI’s webpage offers a June 2021 item as the latest in its ‘Press & Media Releases’ tab (almost three years ago), with its latest ‘News’ item being the January 2024 ‘Launch of the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index’, to which I will return.
TTTI’s IG account seems to have been captured by fete-promoters, with scandalous content, which I notified TTTI about since early December 2023, but the contents are still there. [N.B. The account, with 2 posts and 10 followers to date, is online.]
TTTI’s FB page is moribund with not one single local issue highlighted in the whole of 2023 (!);
On Twitter, TTTI is also moribund (only 146 followers), with its most recent post being an anodyne International Women’s Day flyer dated 8th March 2023. The most recent local issue or event is its Town Hall meeting on 27th October 2020 against Gender-Based Violence in T&T. Clearly, both of those are important issues, but what is the nexus with TTTI’s mission?
The newly-elected TTTI Chair, Ms Donna Jack-Hill, presented the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index on 30th January 2024 and some of her comments on the need for an independent and robust Judiciary were widely misunderstood to be pointed at T&T’s Judicial Officers. A strong backlash emerged with Press Releases from the Law Association and the Judiciary, together with several newspaper articles/editorials.
As unfortunate as it was, the misreporting of those TTTI statements and the public backlash presented a good opportunity to clear the air and for the new Chair to have reset standards. It is my view that this required a timely and solid response from TTTI, since the Press Reports on the 2023 CPI, were deeply critical of TTTI’s credibility. I am not aware that any public comment or clarification was made, so perhaps this Gala Dinner will be yet another chance to correct the record and find a new voice, albeit too long in coming. We will see.
In 100 years’ time, historians will struggle to understand how in a land like ours, an organisation like ours (yes, I am a true member of TTTI) could have said so little at a time like this.
Careerists who are concerned to bolster their CV and careful to avoid offending anyone with more power or money than themselves are a clear and present danger to our Republic, especially when they maintain an intentional silence in the face of epic wrongdoing.
Sad to say, but TTTI’s apparent reluctance to clarify or raise its voice is redolent of the evasions and strategic silences of our ruling class. Silence is the Enemy of Progress.
I welcome a response to these issues from TTTI.
Afra Raymond
afraraymond.net
This is my critique of the output of the TTTI, published on Sunday 19th May 2024 in the T&T Express, T&T Guardian and T&T Newsday, it also appeared on Wired868 – https://wired868.com/2024/05/21/dear-editor-is-tt-transparency-institute-really-a-worthy-ngo/.
AfraRaymond.net 
This is so true of not only the TTTI, but many other once proud, independent and outspoken organisations in “sweet T&T”. As our governments control more and more of the “commanding heights of our economy” and thus the livelihoods of most people become directly or indirectly dependent on them, they are scared to criticise the government.
Thank you for the wakeup call Afra.
Agree this NGO needs all the help that can be given. Transparency and Integrity should be a competitive environment but rather one of cooperation among all concerned citizens.
should not be
Yes, Ulric, I got that point, but TTTI needs to do some work on local issues…
I agree but do they have the capacity for research of such issues and then the refitting of the appropriate response?
I don’t get a sense that such exists at this time. I maybe wrong.
“I, too, have observed the gradual retreat of this once muscular NGO which had opened up a promising space for civil society’s emergence as a powerful agent in promoting transparency, accountability and integrity. I know that NGOs tread a perilous path along which mission sustainability can be at the mercy of financial viability. Whatever the source of the problem, your alarm is indeed a wake-up call for everyone who values TTTI and needs its promise to be realized. Hopefully, the board that was installed earlier this year will come to grips with the historic responsibility of dynamizing this NGO to achieve its self-proclaimed goal of being the catalyst for creating a culture of integrity as the antidote for corruption.”
Sunity Maharaj
Thank you, Sunity – of course the TTTI Board must do more work and better work, but it is important to understand that this is not a new Board as many of those ppl were already serving as Board members…the issue, as I stated it in my penultimate para, is the Cowardly Careerists who crave the ‘humblebrag’ of serving on a good-cause Board but making entirely sure never to offend or discommode anyone of greater power or wealth…
Reading brother Afra’s post it appears the TTTI is akin to a ghost ship drifting on the high seas totally devoid of a captain or a crew and not even basic deck hands to keep the rudimentary tasks which have to be done ticking over. Social media platforms abandoned with last offering years old is akin to a ship which has been abandoned and drifting in the high seas totally rudderless and leaderless.
So how can this be explained? Has T&T reached such a high standard of governance and professional ethical practice that corruption and shady practices which cripple the country and harms the taxpayer have been eradicated and therefore the work of the TTTI has come to the end of the road? Or is it more likely this sad occurrence is due to basic lack of commitment and an absence of patriotism to see things through and hold those to account who need to be held to account, now that their bellies are full?.
The silence of the TTTI during the campaign to have the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act proclaimed is shameful and was the golden opportunity to show the importance and relevance of the organisation to government and people of T&T. But instead it provided a window to lock at the moral character and priorities of far too many who we have a right to expect much more from.
Thanks brother Afra for bringing this important matter to our attention.
The absence of Independent Estates as well as the conditioned aspirations of this Generation(self-seekers) have profoundly cheated this Republic, far more than the noticeable crime&corruption.Strategic Silence is a comfortable response as Rome burns…innocent to the contribution we make daily to this demise.Caring is fake,and in a real sense ” we are all available for take”.Need to learn when enough is enough and what matters most!It must start with SELF..N-j0y..nAz
If we read the letter from some our Afro-Trinidadian businessmen to the Prime Minister that was aired on Knowledge Is Power on Sunday 30th June 2024 about their blockage to banking with the AFREXIMBANK (https://www.afreximbank.com/) by the Caricom Private Sector Organisation created in 2020 as a ‘branch’ of ANSA bank here without the consultation of the Afro-Caribbean group its title suggests it represents, we can compare it with the persistence of global Afrikan lack of equity, justice and fair-play at any level.
Israel in Palestine, the USA and Europe in Afrika, Haiti, Cuba, Brazil and elsewhere and their representatives here epitomise evil, greed and unconscionably vicious barbarism in their senseless quest for supremacy. These ignoble leaders seek the total destruction of this little planet by eradicating the majority of its inhabitants and either moving to Mars or to gain full control of whatever is left. No law, god or army seems able to divert, cancel or reverse the heinous plans these few have blue printed for themselves.
Transparency is an ethic much more in breach than in practice. The TTTI, like the UN, was not created for us and it is funded by those evil ones, who determine its policies. Our leaders are their puppets and we subscribe to capitalism by default. Someone got Trump’s ear, so perhaps now he may hear the truth.
Hi Chris, can you please post or send me a copy of that important letter? I have heard of it, of course, but would like to read the actual text.
Thanks