The past week or so has not been good for at least three Caricom prime ministers, for different reasons.
On Saturday, the leader of the opposition in Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, accused Prime Minister Patrick Manning of personal involvement in the design and construction of a church for his spiritual adviser, under the auspices of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago and its disgraced supremo, Calder Hart, on state land, bypassing the requisite planning permission procedures, and with the use of public funds.
In support of her allegations, Mrs Persad-Bissessar produced copies of correspondence in which the architect refers to “the recent changes [to the architectural drawings] called for by the PM.” She claimed that “PM means the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Patrick Manning” and further charged that Mr Manning had called a snap election on April 8, one day before a no-confidence motion was to have been debated in Parliament, out of “fear of potential revelations of abuse of public office” with regard to the church and other controversial issues.
With the heat being turned up in the midst of the most intense election campaign of recent times in Trinidad and Tobago, the best that Mr Manning could muster in a televised interview was the rather disingenuous suggestion that “in the construction industry, PM also means project manager.” Tellingly, in the court of public opinion, he did not deny the accusations outright and to judge by the general responses in the Trinidadian media, only his die-hard supporters seem to be buying his rather evasive reply.
On Monday, in Jamaica, Prime Minister Bruce Golding felt constrained to apologise to the nation, in the face of mounting international pressure and increasing national dissatisfaction, including calls for his resignation, over his government’s clumsy handling of the request for extradition by the United States of the alleged drug dealer and firearms trafficker and notorious Tivoli Gardens ‘Don,’ Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. The aptly named Mr Coke also just happens to be the strongman in Mr Golding’s West Kingston constituency and, in a country notorious for its ‘garrison politics,’ would appear to have been calling in political favours in his bid to avoid extradition.
In March, Mr Golding had stated that his Jamaica Labour Party government was not involved in contracting the American law firm, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, to lobby the US government to drop the extradition request. Last week Tuesday, he admitted that he had sanctioned the involvement of the lobbyists in his capacity as party leader, not as prime minister. Thus, in his formal apology, he said that when he was asked in Parliament whether the government had engaged the services of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, he had answered truthfully that it had not done so.
The Jamaica Gleaner, however, published a commentary saying, “that statement was not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Golding cannot maintain that he spoke truthfully while saying he should have said more of the truth.” Indeed, were it not for his lame attempt to spin the truth, Mr Golding might have won the forgiveness he was seeking with his emotional, almost grovelling, expression of remorse. He has, however, been unable to satisfy his critics, not least the leader of the opposition and former prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, who has slammed him for failing “to come clean and lay out fully what he has done” and for not apologizing in Parliament for having misled Parliament in the first place.
Unfortunately, as suggested in our editorial on Wednesday (‘Jamaica under pressure…’), this type of behaviour by the two prime ministers is not entirely surprising. In the case of Mr Manning, we shall know what the Trinidad and Tobago electorate considers to be really important after next Monday’s general election. With regard to Mr Golding, the opposition People’s National Party intends to table a no-confidence motion against him and it is far from clear that Jamaicans’ anger has been assuaged.
Fortunately, this pattern of hiding behind semantics, dissembling and evasiveness, whilst fairly pervasive amongst politicians in our region, does not always hold sway. In Barbados, Prime Minister David Thompson, 48, who has complained of stomach pains and has visibly lost weight in recent weeks, announced last Friday that he was taking sick leave to seek medical treatment in the USA and a definitive diagnosis regarding his illness. Mr Thompson is believed to be suffering from colon cancer and has left Barbados with his nation’s understanding, thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery. We too take this opportunity to wish Mr Thompson a positive prognosis, successful treatment and a quick return to good health.
Let it be noted that we are by no means suggesting that Mr Thompson’s announcement was made for political gain. We are merely making the point that, more often than not, the simple truth is enough to keep the trust of the people and even earn their sympathy in times of personal and national stress. One wishes fervently, however, that it should not come down to matters of health and serious illness and that all politicians would recognize the fundamental right of the people to be told the truth.
