During his Republic Day address last year, President Anthony Carmona used a phrase that immediately became part of this country's lexicon. That term was "armchair journalist."
And while Carmona did not explicitly name anyone who fit that description, there was little doubt to those listening that one of the people he was referring to was Rhoda Bharath.
She had one week earlier set social media abuzz when she raised the issue of President's House rebottling wine imported from Italy and other questionable expenditure there.
Questions about the expenditure at the President's House have been in the forefront since.
On Thursday, the accounting officer at the office of the President and other officials appeared before the Parliament's Public Administration and Appropriations Committee where the office's weak adherence to Public Service rules and regulations with respect to hiring practices, procurement, tendering procedures, and overseas travel were addressed.
This week, the Sunday Guardian sits down with Bharath for a Q&A. In an armchair no doubt.
Q: Social media has been used for a number of reasons. What inspired you to begin using yours as a platform for social commentary?
A: The illegal State of Emergency of 2011. Picture having access to all of your rights one day and then by 9 pm one evening, the Prime Minister, from her home, is announcing a State of Emergency that has no clear event or reason triggering it, and this happened without consultation with the President. From that very evening I began posting updates–partly to deal with my own confusion and helplessness and partly to keep friends and family abroad in the know. My wall became a source of news for many. I also live- updated the marathon parliamentary debate to decide to extend the State of Emergency. I think that sealed my relationship with social media. It was then I began to understand how it could be used as an information tool. Prior to that, I used it like everyone else, recreationally.
The President of T&T is the country's highest office holder, someone that people may deem untouchable. However, you have focused on expenditure at that office and highlighted a number of issues there. What was your motivation?
The President or any other high office holder can only be deemed untouchable if we allow him to be untouchable and above the laws of the land. One of the President's duties is to uphold and protect the Constitution. So, I hope he is fulfilling his job description. Public expenditure awareness is a New Year's resolution I gave myself at the end of 2015. I'd become fascinated by certain Parliamentary committee hearings. The ones that focused on spending in ministries. I was appalled at the excessive expenditure and the ways in which ministers and top public servants seemed to be wasting money without having to face any consequences. So, I decided I would use my social media presence in 2016 to get people who follow me online more engaged and aware about public expenditure. Then the Auditor General's Report for fiscal year 2015 was published. And while reading it I remembered the housing allowance stories from 2014. I began asking questions. At first, few answers were forthcoming. Then, by September 2016 something clicked. A friend sent me a photograph of a wine bottle. Then someone else confirmed that audits at the household had pointed to inconsistencies. In the week after that first Facebook Live video, people reached out to me privately. Many were angry and disappointed in the President specifically and at the level of corruption in the country in general.
Are you being funded or operating on behalf of any political party in this matter?
A small number of people have implied this. It does not seem to have occurred to them that it makes no sense. No politician from either party wants to confront the Office of the President. Contrary to what some may think, no political party is excited about moving a sitting President...Politicians can only lose if T&T sets a precedent that abuse of public power or money should be prosecuted immediately. Wouldn't it mean they have to step down as well? Face the courts? Apart from that, it just seems to be bad politics in our system of party politics for politicians to confront high office holders. Has Dr Rowley looked remotely enthusiastic about this issue when questioned publicly? Has Kamla Persad-Bissessar even touched it in Parliament or at her Monday Night Forums? Or Prakash Ramadhar? Not even the MSJ (Movement for Social Justice) has touched this issue publicly. Imagine that? An issue related to public accounts, transparency, and possible corruption and it's like all politicians and most of civil society have suddenly developed an extensive case of laryngitis. These are the same people who would weep to the public when more are murdered, failing to insist on the standards that are needed to put things right.
So, to answer your question directly, No. My pocket and my pocket alone has foot the bills I have received, including the advice of British silk.
With Anthony Carmona's term as President expected to end next year what do you hope the outcome of your agitations will be?
On September 10 when I did the first Live video on Facebook, all I wanted then were answers. I wanted the public to understand too that we have power. Our public officials have a duty to be forthright and accountable, especially when it comes to public monies and the laws of the land. After his speech on September the 28, when I heard the convoluted reason given about a special report and the SRC (Salaries Review Commission) and the CPO (Chief Personnel Officer), I became utterly convinced that an investigation is necessary. President Carmona's answers left me with more questions. And let's not forget that he has also not answered questions about whether he hired his mother-in-law; who imported the wine; as well as skirted the issue of his travel expenditure and other public accounts questions raised. An open and transparent investigation is necessary. If it doesn't happen, then it makes no sense to even bother to tackle crime in other areas.
The end of his term is not material to me. I will call forever for the investigation. If I do not, things cannot improve in Trinidad.
You have called for the police to investigate the President on the issue of the housing allowance.
Do you believe that there will be a thorough investigation into the matter?
I think that my detractors, or the President's sympathizers, are ignoring that I called on the Commissioner of Police to investigate the President and others involved in the housing allowance fiasco on the basis of legal advice received from British silk. That is being carefully ignored because a few prefer to malign and attack me.
Through my attorney, Justin Phelps, I have written to the acting Commissioner of Police, Stephen Williams four times asking for an investigation and also making a report about death threats to my person. He is yet to acknowledge or respond to any of my correspondence. His silence makes me despair that crime investigations are not taken seriously in T&T. Or maybe corruption allegations are deemed less important? I don't know. But I am losing faith.
Are you fearful of any backlash or victimisation that may occur as a result of your statements against the President?
It has happened. On social media there have been some groups that made nasty statements about me with respect to my intelligence, physical features, and ethnicity and finding a way somehow to tie it all in to why the President should not be investigated. Then at my job there have been some ripples. Minor ripples though. The scariest part has been the threats. They tend to come after a Live video or a television interview. Not once has any public officer condemned that, I suppose it is part of standing up for what you believe in here that you must endure insult and abuse.
Do you think you have the support of the population?
Absolutely. There are two dynamics at play. First, diehard supporters of party politics instinctively, but wrongly, see it as a partisan issue, and think they must support or not support an investigation according to where they believe the PM or the Opposition leader may be on the issue. That group, I think, are waiting for leadership from the politicians. What they do not seem to yet understand, is that the PP (People's Partnership) government was very clear that it had never at any time supported the allowance being paid. On the PNM (People's National Movement) side, the PNM has said publicly it stands for integrity in public life, and so its supporters surely understand that the PNM should be in support of this investigation.
The second dynamic is that the population, whilst supportive, does not understand what it can do. On the ground there are repeated discussions as to how to get action on the President. That is frustration. None of the institutions work, where do you turn?
So, yes, I do. I think the matter has laid bare the thing that most plagues us. The way in which the public purse is abused with no thought for our responsibilities and oaths in office. What I would like to see more of are letters to the editor or even to the acting Commissioner of Police. I am happy to do the leg work and research this issue, but the population has to let its discontent be felt forcefully.
Can we expect to see you on a political platform in the future? Is your goal to enter politics one day?
I think that party politics is going the way of the dinosaur. I've no idea what will replace it. For now, I think I make an important difference outside of the Parliament. I remain convinced that once we have a different electorate we will get a different kind of politics and governance in T&T.
What do you think is the most pressing issue affecting the country at this time?
Corruption in high offices that allows for the rampant criminality that we see plaguing T&T. Whichever government addresses that corruption will be on the path to turning us around. But we are in a bad way in this country in terms of our culture of criminality and corruption.
In his response to your questions last year, President Carmona described you as an "armchair journalist," how would you describe yourself and what you are trying to do?
The President seemed to go to great pains in his Republic Day address to insult me. If after 54 years of Independence and 40 years of being a Republic that is how a President sees fit to address a concerned citizen then we are in a bad way. I am a researcher. It is how I earn my living. Has any of my information been proven inaccurate yet? I am trying to create a movement of awareness. I want people to see that they do not require lots of resources and fancy watchdog groups to hold politicians and public officials accountable. I sat in my chair at home on my phone, hunted down information and made public accounts and expenditure in the Office of the President a national issue.
*Rhoda Bharath is an author, researcher and teaches academic writing and research at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.