Contracts for MPs

This issue arose in the Lower House on Wednesday, when in answer to a question about MPs who had gotten State contracts, Leader of Government Business Ken Valley revealed that Point Fortin MP and Deputy Speaker Hedwidge Bereaux had been paid over $500,000 in legal work for various government bodies. The MP who got the second largest fee for State work was also a lawyer, but an Opposition MP — Gillian Lucky, who got just over $30,000 for legal work for Petrotrin, a company which is located in her constituency. So Mr Bereaux got nearly 17 times as much as the next MP in legal fees paid by State-owned companies.

Can this be considered an ethical practice? In advanced countries, the answer would be a clear no. But, even in those countries, politicians use every means to get around regulations forbidding the use of political office to benefit friends and family. And the situation is not so clear-cut for a small country like ours. We, after all, have a smaller pool of talent to draw on for any given area. This means that the same persons may well be called on to perform particular tasks — and, inevitably, some of those persons are going to be individuals whose ambition, energy and talents have put them in public office. It might therefore be counter-productive — to say nothing of impractical — to create regulations forbidding MP`s from accepting State contracts.

There is no denying, however, that this kind of thing makes the Government look bad. In this particular case, for example, it does not matter if Mr Bereaux received his contracts square and above board. Given people’s perception of how politics works in this society, he will inevitably be seen as having won the contracts through undue influence.

The paradox here is that, although both the PNM and the UNC have made political hay out of such awards, neither has taken any action while in power to deal with the issue. This inertia may have two causes. One, the politicians like it so; and, two, the perception of nepotism does not have a political cost. This is why, to cite the most blatant existing example of nepotism, Prime Minister Patrick Manning was able to appoint his wife as Education Minister. Former Independent Senator Julian Kenny has been calling for the Integrity Commission to investigate that appointment, and there is a strong case of conflict of interest to be made in that instance.

But the award of State contracts requires a more finessed judgment. It is certainly unacceptable that sitting Government MPs be granted contracts by the State on what appears to be an almost willy-nilly basis. But, while we do not want the expert services of MPs to be excluded from other areas, we cannot encourage even the perception of patronage. What has to happen, therefore, is that the process by which such contracts are awarded must be made far more transparent, with cogent reasons being given each time an MP wins a State contract and such an award being published in the Gazette. In this way, citizens and other interested parties will not have to wait for questions to be laid in Parliament — or a Commission of Enquiry — to find out who got what.

This will not eliminate nepotism, but it will help reduce both the practice and perception of official corruption. And that is absolutely crucial for good governance.