Category: Politics and Public Affairs

Change, not Exchange – Part 2

Trinidad & Tobago ministers after swearing in. Photo © Trinidad and Tobago News
Newly sworn-in TT Cabinet and other high government officials.

We are now in an interesting space, between the noise of the election campaign and the appointment of some of the most powerful government officials.  The new Cabinet was sworn in on Friday 28th May and the appointment of officials to the SPEs and Statutory Corporations is about to take place.

As noted previously, these SPEs are arguably now more powerful than the traditional civil service, in both the scale of their operations and the loose oversight regimes within which they exist.

As I noted in the first part of this article, published on 16th April, our history is that newly-elected governments will select their own candidates to fill these vacancies.  Apart from the issues of ritual dismissals which were identified then, there are further points to be made at this stage.

The People’s Partnership has won a resounding electoral victory and it seems that a significant number of voters were voting for a change from the large-scale corruption and bobol which had become commonplace.

There were some precedents set by the last PNM, which were so shocking, even by our elastic standards, that they must be highlighted, so we can ensure they are never repeated.

Even though the People’s Partnership is still in the ‘honeymoon period’, it is timely to set out these precedents for consideration –

  • The Spouse factor – Our last PM made local history when he appointed his wife, Hazel Manning, to the Cabinet in 2001.  The PM went to pains to list his wife’s qualifications to head the Education Ministry.  A few weeks later, he defended his appointment of Howard Chin Lee as Minister of National Security, saying on that occasion that no one needed particular qualifications to serve in his Cabinet.  That was bare nepotism, which paved the way for much of what was to follow.
  • Shareholdings – Almost everyone was shocked to read in these pages the revelation that the then Minister of Finance, author of a learned work on the ethics of the legal profession, was in fact a shareholder of the CL Financial group, which had been bailed out on sweetheart terms, with no punitive action against any of the main players – see http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=997.  A Blank Cheque Bailout.  What shocked almost no one was the PM’s stout defense of his colleague “I wish to re-affirm the confidence that I had in the Minister of Finance…” or his bizarre insistence that the criticisms of the Minister’s obvious conflict of interest was rooted in a desire, by those opposed to the government, to erect impediments in its way – see   http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,96934.html.
  • Multiple Directorships and Chairmanships – Another bad one was the fact that five (5) Chairmanships of major State-controlled companies were held by a single individual.  That has never happened before and it is impossible for any individual, however talented or hardworking, to discharge all those duties properly.  Although what I am saying is basic good sense, an entire Cabinet acceded to that level of sheer recklessness.   In simple terms of the long-time saying about all of ones eggs in one basket, that situation was a good example of collective irresponsibility on a tragic scale.
  • Overlapping of appointments and portfolios – In the case of the so-called Independent Senator, Michael Annisette, we had to endure that appointment at the same time as he held Directorships in 5 State-controlled companies. Of course Annisette’s position was completely implausible and conflicted, which became obvious when he became an outspoken defender of UdeCOTT during the recent revelations.  Simply unbelievable, but true – all at the same time.
  • Non-accountability of Special Purpose Entities – For example, UDeCOTT has had no audited accounts since the end of 2006 and yet they have enjoyed the PM’s praises, with no censure at all.  The peril this creates is that we can end up with SPEs which are totally out-of-control, with borrowings – all ultimately forming part of the State’s indebtedness – which are concealed due to the lack of accounts.  That is a truly dangerous place to be and what is worse, the people who oversaw this collapse of normal prudent values and good management principles are unlikely to suffer any penalty or loss.  That must change.
  • Parliament proper role – Parliament has to be restored as the principal place in which the people’s business is discussed and the one I am thinking about here is the Caribbean Airlines/Air Jamaica deal.  That was first announced in January and we were told that there would be no monies invested from Trinidad & Tobago.  After much talk about the limits imposed by the confidentiality clause, we learn on 1st May, in the midst of the election campaign, that the deal was signed at a cost of $50M USD – see http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-04-30-carribbean-air-jamaica_N.htm. Parliament was never the forum for any proper discussion of this matter, with all its long-term implications yet unrevealed.  We need to restore Parliament to its proper place.
  • SPE in politics – Yet another new low was hit this election season when Kaisha Ince, CEO of the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NIDCO) spoke on the platform of a PNM political meeting on 19th May – see – http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/nart?id=161672510 or http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/nart?id=161672478 There have been reports that Ms. Ince has now been dismissed from NIDCO by the new government – see http://www.caribdaily.com/article/296300/pnm-affiliated-ceo-of-nidco-has-been-fired/. It is appalling that the head of a SPE could be on a political platform in the heat of the election battle.  What next, I wonder?  Will we soon see Permanent Secretaries and Department Heads joining the fray?  We need to draw a line here.
Jack Warner, MP. Photo courtesy Trinidad Guardian
Austin "Jack" Warner, MP, Minister of Works & Transport and UNC Chairman

Of course, these are all made more painful, by the fact that they are true and  also, by the strange position of Jack Warner MP, our new Minister for Works  and Transport.  As far as I am aware, once one is appointed to serve in Cabinet, which is effectively the highest office, one is obliged to demit all other offices at once.  The notions at work here being the general principle that it is impossible to serve two masters and also this instance being one in which the responsibilities are so serious that ones service must be total and dedicated.

Jack Warner has confirmed that he will be keeping his roles as a Vice-President of FIFA, President of CONCACAF and Special Adviser to the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation.  Simply amazing.  Of course, I am subject to correction, but it seems to me that this is an absolutely unacceptable situation.  It is impossible for Warner to serve two masters and this is not a precedent which should be tolerated at all, at all.

I want change, not exchange – Question is “Can the People’s Partnership deliver that?”

Change, not Exchange: The Two Tendencies

In view of the season and the issues raised so far in this series, I am setting out some ideas about the scale of challenge we must overcome to achieve change, not exchange.

The State-owned Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) are an important part of the picture in the provision of goods and services to our country.

“The idea that important SPE/State jobs and contracts are available for those in political favour is one of the things we have to change.”

Who is to run these important entities?  In what manner?  These questions of “w” are central to the sharp public concerns over the level of corruption at and performance of, these agencies.  My contention is that there are two contending tendencies in the minds of those who make that sort of decision.

  1. The first of these is the professional, sensible idea that some elements of the SPE-world are so complicated and important that the best people have to lead them, regardless of their political affiliation.  In this space I am sketching, that would include elements like First Citizens’ Bank, Unit Trust Corporation, National Insurance Board (including its affiliates NIPDEC and TTMF), UDeCOTT, HDC, NIDCO, WASA, TTEC, TSTT and so on.  It seems reasonable to take the position that these companies should be run by the most competent staff of integrity and along ‘best-practice’ guidelines.
  2. The second of these is the idea that having been victorious in a national election, the ruling party has the right to appoint whomsoever it wants to key positions.  Some would go so far as to say, it is not just a right, but a duty, given the sacrifice and contribution of certain supporters.  The rationale here being that we exist in a democratic system and the best positions in the State empire rightfully belong to the ruling party, to give to those in political favour.  Those people may be seen as being more sympathetic to the objectives of the ruling party.

The two ideals exist in fundamental tension, moreso since other aspects of the question are also in flux.

There is no clear agreement as to the boundary between the critical SPEs and the rest.  Some of the players believe that every SPE should be subject to their political whims, while others have clear ideas as to which ones must be managed professionally.

Also, it is quite likely that the two ideas co-exist in the minds of some of the main players.  That is, they are themselves severely conflicted on the entire subject.

The idea that important SPE/State jobs and contracts are available for those in political favour is one of the things we have to change.

At this moment we are poised before a snap election, with a highly-charged atmosphere on the issue of SPE corruption.  Even devotees of the ruling party seem to be shocked by the scale of the problem.  Whatever the outcome of this election, there is likely to be considerable action on this aspect of public affairs.

If the present ruling party wins convincingly, we are likely to see a triumphant return to the stated policy of Expediency in Public Affairs.  Those winners could declare that the policy approaches which brought us to this sorry place are the right ones, which were endorsed by the electorate, so we return to mismanagement and dishonesty.

The possibility of a victory of the Peoples’ Partnership also holds challenges in this area, since they could return to old habits.  By that I intend to remind readers that when UNC took office in 1995, there was a widespread series of dismissals of top-level staff at SPEs.  It was so large-scale that the late Grand Master wrote a 1997 calypso on it – ‘De No-Work Band’.  It was never a very popular one of Kitch’s numbers, but those people who suffered sudden and unjustified dismissal will remember the tune, as well as the words.  Plenty names and bitter-sweet too bad.  PNM did much the same thing when they returned to office in 2001.  No kaiso for PNM, though.

That pattern of brusque dismissals and crude exchange is highly questionable, given that both parties have fundamentally similar economic and social policies.  It seems to me that the dismissals are motivated more by by vengeance and a desire to control the vacated jobs, than by any actual difference in ideology or approach..

This is what I mean, in saying that we need change not exchange.

It might seem unlikely, but we could very soon be confronting these issues of who runs our SPEs and how, in what is likely to be a harsher, sharper fashion than ever before.

The ingredients are all there –

  • High stakes in terms of highly-paid jobs;
  • Huge contracts to be distributed;
  • The atmosphere of hubris which seems to fill the highest chambers of our Republic;
  • Either the thrill within the Peoples’ Partnership upon winning this snap election or the sheer triumphalism of the current ruling party to have beaten all its united detractors;
  • The poor moral fibre of those involved.

Yes, come 25th May, we could be seeing a situation which eclipses all the wildness which has gone on so far in this country of ours.

It is clear that there are certain SPEs which must be forensically investigated, with people charged under the law with a view to recovering the stolen funds and restoring a healthy atmosphere to public life in this country of ours.  I have already given a lot of detail on those SPEs.  My point holds ‘irregardless’ of who wins the election.  The situation of gross mismanagement and unpunished corruption is too dangerous to our good health as a nation to be allowed to continue just so.

It is equally clear to me that there are serious, capable and committed people in our SPEs.  Those people have been exemplary in the execution of their duties and added real value to the public service in this country.  They are all now at risk of suffering the fate of other ‘political appointees’ when the other side wins.

It is not good enough for us to shrug and murmur that that is how these things go.  We are a small country, with limited human resources and we cannot spare the intellectual capital which is evaporated every time we go through these purges.

The CL Financial bailout and the Special Purpose Entity fiasco – Joining the dots

“Here we are…In the Land of the Mimic-Men,
You run from the pain,
But the jokes pull you back again,
But home is home,
So you say ‘Hail la Trinity!’,
Then yuh talk about the Love of Liberty,
But then ‘Forge’ is the first word of we Anthem,
Yuh see we so damn corrupt,
That is the problem,
So now dey tief but you ignore,
So now you workin,
And for yuh Children sake, man yuh eh jokin…”
–David Rudder – ‘Another Day in Paradise’.
Lyrics © 1996, Lypsoland Music. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.

On 12th March 2009, the Business Guardian published ‘Sagacity and Veracity’ as my attempt to compare the aspects being revealed by the unfolding collapse of CL Financial and the Uff Enquiry into the public sector construction industry.  At the time, quite frankly, it felt like a bit of a stretch to compare the two….what do we know now?
CLICO vs UDeCOTT
No need to burden readers, the last few months have been crammed full of shocking details of these situations.  Time for me to try putting them into some perspective.

Some threads to start pulling together –

  • CLICO, the biggest part of the Caribbean’s largest and most successful conglomerate, had not reconciled its bank statements for 3 years or established an audit committee.
  • UDeCOTT, the exemplary Special Purpose Entity, ‘back-fits’ invoices and is unable to publish its accounts for three years.
  • The Housing Development Corporation knowingly and massively over-states the numbers of new homes they have built – they have no signed contracts for any of their projects.
  • We have an entire Integrity Commission resign; having ignored expert advice only to lose a damaging court case, yet to date there is not even an attempt to offer an explanation for their bizarre, unseemly actions.
  • To cap it all, we have the sitting President of our Republic appoint a slate of candidates to replace that Integrity Commission.  That slate was questionable, including an intellectual accused of flagrant plagiarism and a prohibited person (being Chief of a State-controlled Agency).  So much so in fact that it caused me to question seriously, for the first time, the mental capacity of that office-holder.  I could scarcely believe my ears, when the President, addressing the nation after his month-long holiday in some undisclosed location, told us all that he did not have to explain anything.

In addition to the absence of consequence, there exists a potent Code of Silence…Only whistleblowers are punished in our Republic…Is almost like gangster business, where witnesses need special protection. Gangster politics.

 

What is obvious to me is that the absence of consequences is proving inimical to our national development.

In addition to the absence of consequence, there exists a potent Code of Silence which prevents us from getting a reliable account of what really went on inside any of these many situations.  I am speaking here of attributed interviews which can form part of our understanding the problems.  Nobody on the CL Financial or UDeCOTT or HDC Boards has spoken openly.  No one in any of the previous Cabinets.  Is like we walking in de dark (Thanks, Brigo).

There is no point in citing Cabinet secrecy or commercial confidentiality as reasons for the silence.  That would involve an attachment to principle which is not part of our situation.  In other countries with far more at stake – USA in its ‘War on Terror’, for example – it is normal to see detailed, open accounts of what has taken place at Cabinet and other top-level commercial meetings.  Our Code of Silence is a different thing.

One thing, we all know for sure, even with the national absence of consequence, is that one type of person will definitely be punished.  Yes, that is the ‘whistleblower’, the seeker after truth.  Only whistleblowers are punished in our Republic.

Is almost like gangster business, where witnesses need special protection.  Gangster politics.

Can we escape our culture?  Can we escape our culture?  Can we eclipse ourselves?

Do we need a big Witness Protection program?  Who is to Guard those guards?

‘A good example is worth a thousand words’, so my teachers used to say.  What kind of example are we setting for our young people?

The people responsible for this mess are our Leadership Class.  These are the people – yes, I know that I am one of them – who had the best schooling and opportunities.  We are witnessing a lack of responsible behavior by our leadership class – the best and the brightest.

We are living with the consequences of an absence of consequence.

Careless Chiefs

Imagine a parent, becoming aware that something improper is happening between one of their children and a responsible adult, someone like a teacher or coach.  Someone whose job it is to nurture your child in a responsible fashion.

A responsible parent will take immediate steps to deal with the problem.  Try to imagine what kind of parent will deal with a coach behaving improperly with one child, but leave their other children in that class, with the said ‘interfering’ coach.

Yes, we have a ‘Father of the Nation’ who has done just such a thing.  The fact is that the dismissed UDeCOTT Directors have not been removed from their other positions at State-controlled organizations.

That is the scale of the problem.

For the Party People

Some readers might see these columns as being critical of the PNM government and to some extent they would be right, since that is the party in power during these various episodes.  It being election season, nobody should be surprised that this stream of damaging revelations – on UDeCOTT, HDC, CL Financial etc – is very useful to the Peoples’ Partnership in the campaign.

As bad as the revelations of corruption, I am not at all sure, given their recent and indisputable record on these questions, whether the UNC would have done differently had they been in power in the last 8 years or so.  I can clearly recall the rejection suffered by Maharaj, Sudama and Maraj when they spoke out against corruption in the last UNC government.  The dissolution of Parliament and the calling of fresh elections soon followed, just like in this rounds.

No, this is not a political column, just an attempt to set out some points of view on our situation.  To stay on point, I agree with Transparency’s Chairman, Victor Hart, that the non-publication of the Bernard Report into the Piarco Airport project was a pity.  Hart, who was a Commissioner on that Enquiry, has also said that, had it been published, we would have been unlikely to have had the UDeCOTT situation.  Interestingly enough, PM Manning promised to publish it, but over 6 years later it remains concealed, for whatever reason.

The Peoples’ Partnership seems to be forging ahead on the winds of public disgust with large-scale corruption, so I am now calling on the leader to make us a public pledge to publish the Bernard Report into the Piarco Airport project immediately upon taking office.

The outline from ‘Sagacity and Veracity’

https://afraraymond.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/sagacity-and-veracity/

An easy guide to the CL Financial and UDeCOTT Fiascos

Six quick pointers for our readers –

  1. Ambitious Empire-building
  2. Other peoples’ money
  3. Excessive borrowings
  4. No cogent planning or feasibility checks
  5. Real Profits? – Is it possible for CL Financial to pay dividends at the same time as writing to seek the State’s urgent financial assistance?  How could UDeCOTT be declaring improving profits as a property-development company, if every one of their projects is not feasible?
  6. Strategic Agenda – The common agenda is to privatize the benefits and profits while being careful to nationalize the losses.  We reject that agenda.  Moral hazard has to be upheld as a reality if we are to develop a progressive nation.

VIDEO: First Up Interview – 17 March 2010

VIDEO: First Up Interview – 17 March 2010

Afra Raymond sits with Fazeer Mohammed and Jessie May Ventour to discuss, among other things, the “battle” between the Government & the construction industry in Trinidad and Tobago. Video courtesy CNMG

  • Programme Air Date: Wednesday, 17 March 2010
  • Programme Length: 0:38:03

M

VIDEO: First Up Interview – 09 March 2010

VIDEO: First Up Interview – 09 March 2010

Afra Raymond sits with Fitzgerald Hinds and Jessie May Ventour to discuss an updated in-depth look at UDeCOTT subsequent to the resignation of its Executive Chairman, Calder Hart. Video courtesy CNMG

  • Programme Air Date: Tuesday, 9 March 2010
  • Programme Length: 0:43:23

An Unhealthy Choice

Sen. Michael Annisette. Photo courtesy TTParliament.org
Sen. Michael Annisette

I was perturbed to read in the press that our President had selected Mr. Michael Annisette to serve as an Independent Senator in our next Parliament.

Apart from his well-known role as head of the SWWTU, Mr. Annisette also sits on the Boards of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (UDeCoTT), the Trinidad and Tobago Mortgage Finance Company Limited (TTMF) and the Vehicle Maintenance Corporation of Trinidad & Tobago Limited (VEMCOTT).  These 3 Directorships are in significant State-owned enterprises and it is a widely-held view that such appointments, especially to those who are not experts in the relevant fields, are only offered to those in political favour.  To put it plainly, one would hardly expect to see UNC or COP members, however expert, on State Boards under a PNM administration.

Whatever its latent defects, one would have to agree that an important part of our Parliamentary health is derived from our Independent Senators.  At this time, with national concerns on constitutional reform looming large, it is vital that we have a vigorous, outspoken and articulate cadre of Independent Senators.

It raises serious questions as to process that our President was able to use his power to nominate Mr. Annisette.  Of course one expected that Mr. Annisette would have resigned his Directorships of those State enterprises before his swearing-in as an Independent Senator, but that is the central issue.  We were then being asked to accept that an individual who was loyal to the party in power, to the extent of gaining those sought-after appointments, would have, upon taking the oath of office, become an Independent Senator.  Even a tolerant nation such as ours has its limits.

I recently read a story in the Express of 29th December headlined ‘Independent Senator resigns as EBC commissioner’ and the first paragraph deserves repetition – “After accepting the President’s request to serve on the Independent Bench in the Senate, Independent Senator Corinne Baptiste-McKnight has resigned as a Commissioner on the Elections and Boundaries Commission.”  Imagine that.  The Chairman of the EBC, Dr. Norbert Masson, was quoted as saying “She did the right thing”.

We are witnessing the slow erosion of unwritten standards of public life in so many worrisome ways and here is yet another such.  We are now being asked to believe that it is possible for an individual to serve on the Board of 3 State-owned companies and also serve as an Independent Senator.  The Express story mentioned above states that Mr. Annisette was still a Director of those State-owned companies.  There has been no denial, retraction or correction to my knowledge.  This is an utterly unacceptable state of affairs in my view.

Consider the nature of the Independent Senators in our Parliament.  Andy Johnson wrote a column entitled ‘One of the President’s men’ in the Express of 20th December 2007 and it makes interesting reading since he mentions that a known CoP supporter is now amongst the ranks of our new Independent Senators.  Johnson did not name the person but said that the other 2 parties in the Parliament knew of his affiliation and hinted that this could become controversial.

Given the way in which distractions are used in our country, we need to reflect with the necessary degree of seriousness on all this to properly distinguish these 2 cases.  The lower House of our Parliament is made up of Members elected nationally.  The upper House is comprised of the Senators selected by the PM, the Leader of the Opposition and the President.  They are allowed to nominate sixteen, six and nine Senators, respectively.  The party in power and the opposition are represented in both Houses of the Parliament.  But our constitution implicitly recognizes that these 2 elements alone cannot be enough, hence the third group of Senators we have come to call Independents.

For our President to nominate a Senator who comes from within the ranks of PNM or UNC loyalists seems contrary to the spirit of the constitution.  In contrast, the ranks of our Independent Senators is an appropriate place for supporters of ‘third parties’ together with other matured, expert and committed citizens.  We expect our Parliament to be a place in which major policy issues are debated and settled, but the reality is much different.  The decisive issue here is whether we have the vision and will to stop practices which further dilute the authority of our Parliament.

To challenge or remove the so-far-unnamed CoP supporter in the ranks of Independent Senators in this 9th Parliament will do violence to the spirit of the Constitution.  To allow Mr. Annisette to continue as an Independent Senator while holding 3 Directorships in State-owned companies is to invite ridicule and disrespect.  Even if he were to resign those Directorships now, one is bound to ask, ‘What next?’

It would be wicked to repeat here the scandalous suggestions I received in discussing this question with various people.  Out of some latent regard for the little respectable that is left, I will just say that there are still ways to deal with this unpalatable situation.

The President’s selection of Mr. Annisette was questionable.  For an Independent Senator to continue in his roles as Board Director of 3 State companies is completely unacceptable.  Due to the constitutional immunity extended to that office, it is impossible to legally challenge any of the President’s decisions, so one is forced to take action in the Court of Public Opinion.  Our President should himself take the necessary corrective action now.  He has the power, under Section (43) (2) e of our constitution, to declare Mr. Annisette’s seat vacant.

The silence of the UNC-A and CoP on all this is damning.  It would be interesting to see what views are expressed by other concerned citizens.  The peril we face is Civil Obedience.  Public apathy and cowardice are as corrosive to the health of our Republic as the menace of crime.