Open confession – so the saying goes – is good for the soul. That assumes, of course, that the confessor possesses a soul. We will, however, give the benefit of the doubt to Dr Luncheon in the matter of the recent confession that the government isn’t, after all, denying that its management of the public purse is not without financial irregularities.
Now you have to wonder whether this concession by the HPS marks the opening of a floodgate of confessions with regard to these so-called financial irregularities. Of course, irregularities in the matter of the management of finances can range from simply making mistakes in the computation of figures to full-scale fraud, either through the deliberate manipulation of figures to naked, transparent stealing and Dr Luncheon doesn’t tell us much about what these financial irregularities are.
That aside, the timing of the Cabinet Secretary’s open confession is interesting. Is it that he has been asked by the government to communicate to the administration some sudden policy change that seeks to embrace financial probity as a government policy or is it that the prevailing circumstances of the National Assembly have compelled the administration to give ground, to admit that after all, there are people who have their hands deep in the public purse and that this has been the case from time immemorial.
Well as far as this nation is concerned, Dr Luncheon, the government has to ‘come better’ than simply admitting that there have been financial irregularities. There are no National Awards for telling the truth about exactly what is going on with the taxpayers money though you may be given some lesser public recognition if you can persuade Finance Minister Ashni Singh and others of his colleagues to say to the assembled Parliament that the administration aren’t exactly choir boys when it comes to managing public funds.
If you are to do so Doc, you have to rid yourself of that contrived self-righteous indignation that causes you to suggest, for example, that the posture of the opposition in the matter of government bills “defies explanation”. There is a perfectly good explanation, Doc. It’s called A-C-C-O-U-N-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y. People with power must also take responsibility and the truth is that the government simply isn’t used to taking responsibility, to giving account. Let’s face it Doc, if the PPP/C had had a majority in the National Assembly and were able to pass their bills while some of their members slept in the National Assembly we would never had heard this revelation of yours.
It may not be deserving of a National Award – perhaps the Tantalizer will, some day, provide you with a list of things that merit such an award – but it might be a significant; it might open the floodgates. Perhaps at your next media briefing you might wish to discuss the subject of financial irregularities in greater detail.
