Fool me once again?

Few of us were aware that fraud charges against important people were really clogging the courts. But who knows, the secretive offices of the DPP and the Police Service may have a slew of charges to bring out of matters being “assiduously pursued” while being studiously repressed. We are all aware of many of these, dating back to the Piarco Airport scandal, for which Americans have already served their time in the USA. Recently we have had the Uff Commission and the Las Alturas Inquiry Reports, and what is still to come from the Colman Inquiry into CLICO and HCU, and yes, the still unresolved issue of the Section 34 “e-mails” read in parliament. So, when the Prime Minister and the Attorney General say that charges are being brought against at least nine persons I want to steups and say this is another political grand-charge. We talk this way about charging people who are, have been or remain close to the centre of power. Charges are brought with great fanfare, but are withdrawn, or just die from the Myth of Section 34 which covers like a blanket all those who need its shelter.

As a person who has called for charges against the perpetrators of white collar crime, I cannot quarrel with the PM or the AG for the action they say they are taking. But for this not to be just another act of political gimmickry, their net has to be cast again and again, and wider than just into the pool where the UNC fed.

Please try to remember that it is recorded in Hansard that the 2002 to 2010 PNM regime was “the most corrupt government ever”, more corrupt than the 1995 to 2001 UNC government.

And the person who read that statement into the record was Dr Keith Rowley, now our Prime Minister.

His concerns were endorsed by the Lord Musthill Inquiry into the Judiciary, the Uff Inquiry and during the Colman Inquiry. And so ponderous must be the depths of corruption in that PNM regime, it appears our DPP and others cannot get around to building cases against the perpetrators? Mind you, this is how we share this Section 34 Blanket. The UNC , when in power, were competent in bringing law suits against the PNM Boys, but not against their own friends and financiers. The Piarco duo were given safe haven against extradition because they had too much money to fight their appeals. So the UNC brought charges against the PNM Petrotrin jefes, but these charges were withdrawn by the PNM when they returned to power. You see how it goes? Obviously the cases against the HDC Nine are much less complex than any case against those named in all the Inquiries we endured, for the DPP to have wrapped them all up within a year? You understand what is happening here, don’t you? Past sins and sinners are already fading away under the Blanket of Section 34 as we seek to end corruption at its flowers and not at its roots.

By all means we must nip it in the bud whenever we can, so I endorse charges being brought against people whose may warrant them. Who would not endorse this? This long overdue initiative? But it must not come as an act of vindictiveness against their mirror images across the floor, to be vaulted over dozens of other just as important matters of corruption under assiduous investigations for years now.

This nation needs to be told, openly and honestly, the status of investigations into corruption allegations and charges against many persons close to governments over the past sixteen years. And we need to bring the cases against those who have been so blatantly exposed-- with more to come unless we keep reports hidden – in the Commissions’ Reports.

Selective prosecutions, against only those on the other side—whichever “other side” -- are themselves acts of gross corruption, and we must make it clear that we are demanding prosecutions against all who have stolen from our Treasury.

I am on your side in this Dr Rowley, provided your stated intent is really your intentto root out and prosecute corruption from our society. Bring charges against your own sinners too. Do not fool us again!