True to his threat, Chaguanas West MP and former chairman of the United National Congress Jack Warner has begun lashing out. His first blows were the relatively benign claims that he had rented a St Augustine house for three months in 2010 for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, that he paid for the wife of Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal to study in Britain, and that he gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) leader Ashworth Jack.
Ms Persad-Bissessar and Dr Moonilal have denied getting any such gifts from Mr Warner but, even if they did, nothing illegal appears to have taken place under Trinidad and Tobago law. Moreover, Mr Warner was not a businessman who might, in the fullness of time, have been trying to find favour with the powerful. Rather, he was back then a leading member of the UNC and, he chose to help his leader and a fellow MP.
It is significant, however, that Ms Persad-Bissessar and Dr Moonilal have so vehemently denied receiving anything from Mr Warner. The Prime Minister tried to leave the impression that Mr Warner was not a UNC financier, although she chose her words carefully, saying that she herself had never received any money from him.
The fact is that the UNC's leaders are clearly trying to distance themselves from Mr Warner in all matters, big or small. As far as they are concerned, their former party chairman is now political gramoxone, poisoning all that he touches. But, given the fulsome praise that they heaped on him when he was the wealthy power broker in government circles, distancing themselves may prove to be impossible.
Mr Warner has promised that he has much more dirt to dish. But, if that is so, the fact that he had been content to remain silent when he was a UNC member in good standing proves that his new stance is driven by self-interest. Moreover, the fact that he has begun his "expos�" with trivial revelations suggests that he is feinting rather than punching. If he has real information on issues related to the public good, why not start with that?
The most likely answer is that, facing the possibility of extradition to a United States jurisdiction where he will get a speedy trial, the 72-year-old may be trying to gain some leverage, in the hope that an extradition to the US to face trail would never see the light of day. If he staves off extradition and remains in Trinidad and Tobago, past evidence suggests that death by old age would likely come before any judicial accounting.
What Mr Warner's revelations have revealed, however, is the tawdry nature of our political culture. No laws appear to have been broken, and even in countries with strict ethics rules on payments, politicians push the envelope. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has taken flak for accepting hospitality offered by the rich and famous, for example by singer Cliff Richard in upscale west coast Barbados.
The Clintons–likely a pairing of future and past presidents–have been criticised for blurring ethical lines by using their public office to accept charity, some from questionable sources.However accepting such gifts are increasingly being frowned upon in those polities, and such practices are either being made to be more transparent, or are being disallowed by new ethics rules.
Perhaps we in T&T need to do that too.