While the entire country must be celebrating with glee over the sudden departure of Calder Hart, I perused the overall picture and realise that this was only the beginning of the massive cleanout required. What we need really, is a Herculean effort to wash out the Aegean filth that built up over decades of corruption.
As glad as I am to see a stall in the UDeCOTT spending spree, let us not forget that there are other Board members there who may be just as culpable for the wanton waste whizzing down the drains.
The name Michael Anisette comes to mind as a man whose ethics seemed to have been sold. I could be wrong, but his position is suspect then, and now.
Then let us not be distracted from the issue of the Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls and his disciplinary process. He has a case to answer and I for one hope that he isn’t allowed to escape unscathed.
Don’t forget too the grants handed out to PNM cronies in guise of ‘scholarships’ – non-repayable at that - to the tune of millions.
Or the prime Minister’s constant veto of permanent appointments to key Public Service posts.
Or his blatant discrimination as found by the Privy Council in multiple matters that appeared before the Law Lords. One, the Feroza Ramjohn issue is once again headed back to the Privy Council. The likely outcome? Another waste of taxpayers’ dollars and another loss to the PM.
That we have the resignation of Hart successfully distracting us from the relationship between P**rick and his church speaks volumes as well. Is this a deliberate misdirection to remove our attention from the Rev Pena and P**rick? What exactly is the relationship between them and is it so strong that Hart could be sacrificed for a little female company? Is this a case of sleeping with the ‘devil’ for personal gain?
Ask yourselves, how could a church with reported less than 50 members find $30M to build what will be the biggest cathedral in the country when it is completed? I know, you might suggest contributions from members. Right… then as a member what is the contribution of the Prime Minister (or P**rick, take your pick) and where did that money come from? Can we ask the Inland Revenue Department to conduct an audit into the church’s finance?
Is the attempt by the PM to ‘restructure’ Customs and IR departments an attempt to stop too much probing? Because placing these departments under direct patronage of party hacks will actually open the floodgates, not close them.
Keep in mind that ‘Im Butt’s department at the Licensing Office was rated THE most corrupt in the country. Why no restructuring there?Has the Minister, like a yapping pompek, made noisy protestations? Or is it just not worth it to dip into petty income streams?
And let us not forget that while these issues are in the fore, there are many still being surreptitiously reworked in the dark, like the Draft Constitution. No word has been given that it is stalled, ceased or delayed.
Now, I ask these questions not because I want to cast aspersions. I ask because the theorist in me sees these as viable issues.
