As if Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar did not have enough problems on Tuesday, having to sack her Minister of Planning, Economic and Social Restructuring and Gender Affairs, Mary King, for her involvement in the awarding of a government contract to a company owned by Mrs King’s family, potentially damaging revelations about the behaviour of another member of her Cabinet emerged that same day in London.
In testimony, protected by parliamentary privilege, to a British House of Commons Select Committee on England’s failure to secure the 2018 World Cup finals, former English Football Association chairman David Triesman accused Trinidad and Tobago Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner and three other executive committee members of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) of asking for favours in return for their votes.
In Mr Warner’s case, Lord Triesman alleged that he had asked for a £2.5 million “donation” to build an educational facility in Trinidad, as part of his “legacy.” He also said that Mr Warner, the colourful FIFA vice-president and President of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), which commands a powerful bloc of 35 votes in FIFA, requested a £500,000 donation to buy the television rights to last year’s World Cup for Haiti, so that games could be shown on big screens to survivors of the January 2010 earthquake.
Lord Triesman admitted that he did not immediately report these approaches and his misgivings about their appropriateness to FIFA’s ethics committee because he feared that England’s bid would be undermined. Ironically, by saying nothing and allowing England’s high-profile campaign, led by Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William, to come to a humiliating end with just two votes, he has risked looking rather foolish for not having exposed earlier an allegedly corrupt system. Worse, there may be no more evidence than his word against that of the men he has accused and he may in turn be accused of sour grapes.
But this is not the first time that there have been allegations of sleaze at FIFA or indeed, against Mr Warner, the multimillionaire, wheeler-dealer who is no stranger to controversy. Over the years, he has been variously accused of corruption, bribery, fraud and money laundering, with a 2009 BBC Panorama programme claiming that he repeatedly used his position as a football powerbroker for monetary gain.
Mr Warner, with typical disdain for such allegations, dismissed Lord Triesman’s claims as “foolishness” and “totally false.” But he acknowledged that he “took England to Longdenville [the village where he grew up]… to build a place for the people in Longdenville. That was public knowledge… I told them if you want to do something to help Trinidad, build a place in Longdenville.” At least, he was not crass enough to ask for a knighthood, as did Nicolás Leoz of Peru.
The scandal, however, goes beyond the boundary, to borrow a phrase from another sport. Mr Warner is, apart from being a government minister, chairman of the dominant party in Trinidad and Tobago’s People’s Partnership Government, the United National Congress. He is also supposedly one of the UNC’s main financiers, if not the ‘power behind the throne’ of Mrs Persad-Bissessar. He has the reputation, moreover, of being a workaholic and is a quick-witted, folksy speaker with deep pockets and a roguish charm, who has many admirers.
He is perhaps more Anansi than Robin Hood and consequently, public opinion in Trinidad appears to be divided as to whether people should be proud of his accomplishments in the world of international football or ashamed of the allegations of financial skulduggery and concerned that his actions might tarnish the international image of the country, perhaps even interfering with its foreign policy objectives.
One blogger on the Trinidad Daily Express webpage tries to get to the heart of the matter thus: “The fundamental problem concerning corruption in Trinidad is easily observed… Logical thinking is thrown out the window and emotional feelings and opinion take over. This is at all levels of our society, instead of looking at corruption as a crime, some citizens at every level of our society, see it as cleverness and secretly give their approval. If any citizen who becomes popular commits a corruptive crime, his or her crime is stifled from guilt by those who are ready to admire the accused as an innocent victim. Mr Manning was a good example of this, as a popular politician and Prime Minister he could do no wrong, that was until his own party members and supporters had enough of his antics.” This speaks to a double standard prevalent throughout the region and it does the Caribbean people no favours.
So far, there has been no official comment by Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar. The opposition, which had in the first place been critical of Mr Warner’s ministerial appointment as a conflict of interest, seems to be keeping its powder dry. But at some point, Mrs Persad-Bissessar will have to decide if Mr Warner’s dual role at FIFA and as a minister is really helping Trinidad and Tobago and whether he too should be shown the red card.
