FRANKIE GOES TO MOKA

Less than a year after winning the marginal constituency of Ortoire/Mayaro, PNM MP Fr-anklyn Khan packed his bags, put his southern house up for sale and headed to the posh Maraval neighbourhood of Moka. He left behind some 20,000 plus constituents and an area he had won by fewer than 1,000 votes, confident perhaps that Housing Minister and PNM campaign strategist Martin Joseph would keep his Ortoire/Mayaro people and seat warm in his absence. When asked by reporters how he could afford to purchase a house in Moka, a place where no home cost less than a million dollars, the Minister of Works and Transport said the money had come from his personal funds. And, that, as they say, was that. The reporters and the rest of the population had little choice, but to hope that Franklyn Khan was telling the truth.

Not that anyone was accusing the ever-smiling, affable Minister of any impropriety, but you see he had not, upon entering office, declared his assets, so people were entitled to take Khan’s words with a pinch of salt if they so desired. He had offered an explanation for his wealth, which sounded reasonable, but it was one that could not be verified. Why not? Because since it obtained a parliamentary majority in October 2002, the PNM had made no effort to enforce the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000. Indeed, this Government seemed bent on doing everything to destroy the Act, as it had reportedly not even decided whether to appoint new commissioners to replace those whose terms had ended mid July. The Integrity Commission would be ignored into non-existence and our Constitution would become meaningless. Cabinet was breaking the law, a law to which, in October 2000 PNM MPs gave their “ayes” in Parliament, a place in which they could only take their seats after swearing to uphold the Constitution and the law!  Such conduct had left a cloud of suspicion hanging over all its members, every one of them, inc-0luding Khan.

The prescribed forms for public officials to declare their assets and income had been lying around the Ministry of the Attorney General for two years, ever since they had been drafted in 2001 during the term of Glenda Morean’s predecessor, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj. First, we were led to believe that the forms were being reviewed and would soon be laid in the legislature. The next thing we knew was that some UK consultant the Attorney General hired had conveniently recommended that the Integrity Commission be replaced. How was this to happen? We did not know. No alteration to, or repeal of, the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 could take place without a special majority of both Houses of Parliament, as the legislation and thus, the Commission were now entrenched in our Constitution. Hadn’t Morean heard the Opposition make it more than clear that it would not support such an outrageous measure?Yet, she kept repeating this balderdash about a new body to replace the Integrity Commission, which if one assumed was going to possess “more teeth” than the Commission, would have to have the power to probe people’s finances even more than the current Act permitted. Any bill to establish such a body would require a special majority because such legislation would undermine the first of our fundamental rights as set out in our Republican Constitution.

Again, the AG would need the help of the UNC to establish this anti-corruption body. She could hardly believe that she would get the Opposition’s support. The lady and her Government appeared to be playing some serious games. And, in the meantime, nearly two years had gone by since the PNM regained power and not a man or woman among them had filed a single declaration of their assets when the Act called for a person to do so, within three months of becoming a person in public life. Shame on Patrick Manning, Keith Rowley, Colm Imbert, Ken Valley, on all those who lectured on and on about the importance of transparency in public office when they were on the other side of the House of Representatives. Now that power was theirs, they seemed to no longer care about integrity or the perception that this Government had much to hide. However, they wanted bandits to stop stealing, and asked the rest of us to help them enforce the law. Franklyn Khan could be the most honest man in politics, until he and his colleagues declared their assets, until the Integrity Commission assured us that all was well, many people would not believe his Moka story. He could not blame the population for their cynicism; they were corruption weary and wary. Instead, what Khan needed to do was get his Prime Minister and Attorney General to cease trying to prevent the rain from coming because it was beginning to look like the PNM had a lot of cocoa in the sun.
Suzanne Mills is the Editor of the daily Newsday.