Shooting the Messenger

Apr 10, 2011 Features / Columnists, Ravi Dev

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I was not surprised that Nizam Mohammed was fired as Chairman of the T&T Police Service Commission by President Maxwell Richards. What gave me pause was the vehemence of reaction of the government of Kamla Persad-Bissessar which had appointed him. It not only left Mohammed swinging in the wind after his report on the ethnic imbalance in the upper tiers of the Police Force, but in so many words demanded his head. The intent in its riposte was clearer than when Salome danced before Herod.
How do you retain a public official when his statement is deemed by the government to be, “reckless and senseless…divisive and serv(ing) no useful purpose other than to undermine the trust that is reposed in him”?
Lest there were any doubts as to the government’s objective, it demanded that Mohammed “must be held accountable for his inflammatory and unwise remarks which in no way represent the views of the Government.” While Mohammed says he will seek legal action against the President to determine the grounds for his dismissal, an interrogation of the government’s reaction is also important since it echoes the sentiment of many in the media and society.
The statement began very nobly: “When we see each other for who we are rather than what we happen to look like, when the grounds of suspicion fall away and no one looks for shades of differences to determine their own value, when realities are not created by pigments of someone’s imagination, then we would have arrived as a nation.” But what is troubling is when it continues: “Within this context the Government of Trinidad and Tobago categorically condemns the statements made by Mr. Nizam Mohammed…regarding the allegations of discrimination and the need for ethnic balancing within the T&T Police Service.”
All Mr Mohammed did was to cite figures supplied by the authorities which showed that almost two decades after a government-sponsored report had made just such a recommendation – to which it had committed itself to address – nothing had changed. Indians were still overwhelmingly underrepresented in the upper ranks of the Police Service, while the Promotion Board remained all African.
The government’s severe condemnation of Mr Mohammed’s point could only be justified if in the fact that T&T had not only “arrived as a nation” where citizens are judged (to paraphrase ML King) solely by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin but more pertinently, the truth of this assertion may not even be questioned! To do so is to be deemed “racist”.
This is redolent of the dilemma that is faced by some religions that prohibit blasphemy and when someone is charged for the crime, the allegedly blasphemous statement cannot be repeated -neither by the accuser nor the accused. One is convicted merely by the accusation.
Referring rather presciently to the Police Service Commission which he headed, Mr. Mohammed told the Parliamentary Joint Committee (not a mob in the streets) “You get the impression that we are not sufficiently mature to look at this (problem).”
In the context of the need for the police to be provided with information from the 50% of the population that is East Indian, he cautioned , “You cannot hope to revive or restore the confidence of the public in the Police Service if you do not have a properly structured Police Service.” He concluded, “I will never advocate affirmative action. That would not work in Trinidad and Tobago. I will advocate meritocracy.”
But the next paragraph of the government’s statement vitiates the entire basis of its judgement of Mr Mohammed’s statement: “The five leaders that formed the political grouping that brought this Government to power is the broadest-based representation ever held in this nation.” If T&T has reached the nirvana of judging people solely by “character”, with no thought of race, how can the government boast about “the broadest-based representation” in national leadership?
“Broadest-based” in what? Character? So it insisted on a fair share of rogues and crooks as well as saints?
Invoking T&T’s national anthem, “Here every creed and race finds an equal place,” the government sanctimoniously concluded, “Our mission as a Government is to embrace everyone, to create a meritocracy based on people’s ability to do their jobs; race must not and will never be a consideration.”
Overlooking for the while Mr Mohammed’s stated commitment to merit-based promotion, what the government is saying is that even if – through whatever historical circumstance, racist or otherwise – the racial composition of a state institution deleteriously affects its performance – this can never be inquired into much less rectified. In matters of race, “is” becomes “ought”: there is no moral imperative for racial equality in the state, which is supposed to be the reflection of all its citizens. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.
Fie on Nizam Mohammed for talking about race: he must be a racist. Kamla evidently has not only been to the mountaintop and seen the Promised Land where the lamb lies down with the lion: she has already taken T&T into its glory. And racists like Mohammed must be cast out forthwith.

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