The date May 10, 2011 will unreservedly go down in the annals of Trinidad and Tobago as the day a sitting Prime Minister terminated the services of a senior Cabinet minister for impropriety and official misconduct in public office. While other ministers were fired by the PNM regime like Keith Rowley for speaking out against corruption in places like Udecott, no former minister has ever been fired for official misconduct. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the first head of government to take a firm stance against misconduct in public office. Some may instantaneously say that the preceding is inaccurate because former prime minister Basdeo Panday dismissed local government minister Dhanraj Singh in 2000 over allegations of corruption. It must however be underscored that Basdeo Panday was later accused of official misconduct in public office for failing to declare his London Bank Accounts in accordance with the mandates/requisites of the Integrity in Public Life Act. In essence it was a classic case of the "The devil correcting sin."
While in the public sphere there have been many accolades bestowed on the Prime Minister for her prompt and decisive action, there have been outcries from circles claiming a certain degree of dissatisfaction. The Prime Minister asked the Attorney General to look into the matter and report back to her. She took action based upon irrefutable documentation and evidence presented to her based on the fact that former Minister King had brought her office into serious disrepute and was accused by senior public officers of totally unbecoming behaviour-especially using her Ministerial power to bully subordinates to do inappropriate things. The Prime Minister had done all she could do under her power to rectify a "wrong" or discipline a Cabinet minister. She has appropriately passed on the issue to the correct body-The Integrity Commission who would investigate thoroughly and then inform the DPP if a case is made out for Mrs King to be charged accordingly.
The Prime Minister does not possess these powers. There was rampant pillage of the country's finance by Calder Hart who sat on five State Boards simultaneously. Further, a former finance minister obtained insider information concerning the crash of Clico and withdrew astronomical sums of her investment moments before the demise. This is misconduct to the highest degree and she remained in office "unscathed." In a true democracy, no one is above the rule of law as was evidenced with what happened to US Magnate Martha Stewart who did the same thing as the former minister was jailed for it. I close by asking the nation to be fair when we express discontent with the way public issues are dealt with by high officials. As the sage old folks say: "What is good for the goose should be good for the gander."
Emmet Newman
GoodWood Park