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When a King is the subject of a joke

May 15, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

It had to be a joke at bars, restaurants, watering-holes, in the clubs, at the gyms and even among joggers in the parks and on the seawall. A Minister from the junior partner in the coalition that makes up the Trinidad Government by the name of Mary King was asked to resign by her own party. Then she was fired by the PM.
What was her crime? Well that is where countries differ in their cultures all over the world. In one territory, homosexuality is legal. In another it is banned. In another country, adultery is punished by death. In another, it is not even on the statutes.
In one land, a serving Prime Minister can be put on trial. In another, he controls the police so he cannot be charged. In one state, a leader mistreating his wife will lead to immediate loss of power. In another, the accused leader just goes about his business.
This is the world we live in where values are not what they appear to be, depending on which soil you stand. So what did Mary do? It is alleged that Mrs. King, in her capacity as a Minister, awarded a contract to a firm headed by her husband and which involved her son and her too.
Skip across the Caribbean Sea from Trinidad to Guyana and you see the contexualization of values. Mrs. King has to be the subject of rib-ticking jokes in Guyana. Once her name comes up the conversation will descend to acrobatic laughter.
In Guyana, Mary, under the PPP Government the past nineteen years, would have committed a more vicious, perverted and sickening offence and drive around Guyana, even with her husband and son, and shake the hands of fellow Guyanese, hug and kiss babies and throw money away to small children.
Next day, corrupt Mrs. King would have been featured in the state media with her crown on her head. It is a joke in Guyana to think that a Minister like Mary King in Trinidad could ever be sacked.
Now here is where the trouble lies. Mrs. King is not being accused of corruption. Don’t think that is what her problem is. Mrs. King, it appears, violated a very sacred principle of life that the PPP leaders in Guyana have contempt for and do not recognize, hence the tragedy of Guyana.
Mrs. King has been sacked for conflict of interest, not corruption. To date, there is no evidence of corruption. But the conflict of interest principle, if adhered to, prevents rumours and talk of corruption, thus its priceless value.
In Guyana, corruption is so mountainous and pathological that Mary has to become the subject of light banter. But amidst this banter is the permanent doom under which this country lies. It must be heart-rending to hear that a Minister in a neighbouring country could be dismissed for conflict of interest violation, while here, the most appalling manifestation of corruption puts Guyana in the category of some of the world’s worst offenders.
In its Friday edition, this newspaper pointed to just one case – the export of dolphins by a ministerial advisor who didn’t have an export licence. The editorial stated that it wanted to mention just one situation. Obviously, the writer had to be burdened with where to start and where to end.
My take on corruption in Guyana involves two dimensions that are not featured in the commentaries of other political observers. It is my opinion that very powerful members of the political oligarchy are partners in very huge business conglomerates that have emerged over the years.
This writer just does not buy the argument that certain political figures are so generous as to allow a few companies to get billions and billions of dollars in concessions and contracts.
Secondly, I believe that there are foreign bank accounts and Switzerland is one of the countries involved.
I find myself in the same position as the writer who did the editorial referred to above. Where does one begin in the enumeration of corruption under the PPP Government, but particularly since the deaths of the two Jagans?
Space will not permit that. Let us return to governmental contracts issued to companies that when examined belong to family members and relatives of PPP leaders. Here in Guyana, the situation is so barefaced that when Guyanese heard about Mary King in Trinidad, they had to laugh. That laughter of course hides a terrible tragedy.
A mere conflict of interest case can cause a Trinidadian Minister her job. But in Guyana, billions of dollars are just being stolen and it goes on every day.

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