Budgeting integrity

Though he wondered why his son needed to know the meaning of "integrity" at such an odd hour, my brother opted to ask no questions and to offer his boy the quickest and shortest reply he could think of at the time.

"Integrity means honesty," he responded, hoping his explanation would satisfy his probing pre-pubescent offspring, which it seemed to do since the boy was silent for quite a while and when he did speak again, asked nothing more about integrity.

I learnt of the anecdote through the family grapevine and I was certain, well almost, that I knew what had led my nephew to ask about integrity at the peculiar hour he had: the boy was on his way home after a three-week vacation in Trinidad and Tobago. In my opinion, there was nothing unnatural thus, about the question. He had visited a land new to him, a country of talkers, and he had probably heard these going on about integrity in this and integrity in that. So it was normal for him to want to know what the word meant since it seemed of such significance to the people of his parents’ native land.

I wondered though about the silence that followed his father’s easy definition. Was the boy quiet because he had accepted his father’s explanation or was he thinking, as some of his father’s countrymen and women were, that the definition didn’t gel with what he had observed during his three-week stay? I also knew that if my nephew had asked me, my answer would have been lengthier than my brother’s. I would have told him that "integrity" is not easily defined because it has acquired a tremendous verbal elasticity: its employment varies according to geographical location, speaker and occasion. For example, in his country, the word integrity is equivalent to a dim wit President exploiting Americans’ post-9/11 patriotism and paranoia and lying to them about Iraq.

I would have said that in Trinidad and Tobago, integrity too has its share of nuances and would have demonstrated how its meaning mutates on command. For citizens sitting on State boards, I would have told my nephew, integrity signifies finding any excuse — the latest being crime — to avoid filing declarations of assets and liabilities under the Integrity in Public Life Act; paying lawyers to locate so called "grey areas" in the legislation; and forgetting that accepting a board position obliges one to file. It is defined as expressing concern about rising crime while you breach a law you find inconvenient.

I would have noted that there is another group of people in Trinidad and Tobago who have a strange understanding of the word "integrity," the members of the judiciary. Integrity in their view means using their power to declare the Integrity Act unconstitutional, refusing to file their integrity declarations and daring the State to enforce this particular law while jailing ordinary citizens for breaking others. I’d have explained to my nephew though, that if he really wants to know about the limitless meaning of integrity in Trinbagonian society, he has only to look to the Integrity Commission, the body charged with enforcing the Integrity Act. Integrity for the members of the Commission is synonymous with taking an oath of office to implement a law, but taking no action against recalcitrants. It stands for wringing your hands and whining.

If my nephew were still in the mood then for continuing the integrity discussion I would have told him that for the Government of TT, integrity has a very unusual definition. To them it means making grand promises to present a new crime-fighting plan in the Budget, but spending much of a boring Budget speech rehashing old measures and leaving the nation bloodied, unmoved, hopeless and vulnerable. To our political administrators, integrity is on the one hand, condemning crime and criminals while on the other, giving paramilitary organisations a free hand to mete out their own violent form of justice and then awarding members of these groups URP contracts in order to secure victory in general elections. I would have said that in the opinion of the Government, integrity means promising to be honest, but never telling the public the whole story.

Then I would have noted that for the Opposition UNC, honesty means saying you got slapped by a teacup, and using taxpayers’ millions to prove that teacups can cause the same damage as a cuff to the face. It additionally signifies having a leader who changes personas as his wife changes outfits, being ruled by a jefe who promises to go, but who never does and doing or saying anything to get back into power. It means ensuring that the UNC is a Panday trademark, at any cost. In other words, integrity in the House of the Rising Sun is as chameleon as its master and as real as flying teacups.

I would have concluded the early morning discussion on integrity by telling my nephew that generally in Trinidad and Tobago, integrity means boasting you are morally sound while you "pass some change" to get something done; that it is defined as conning your fellow citizen and taking any and all shortcuts to prosperity. Integrity in TT also includes openly worshipping a multiplicity of lesser gods while secretly swearing fidelity to the biggest one: Money. I would have told my nephew that the word "integrity" in his parents’ land stands for singing a song about a code of moral values as long as you are not the person dancing to the tune. In a nutshell, integrity means several things to the people of TT, but it is of little significance to many of us.

suz@itrini.com