Corruption will continue, because Govts are a never ending stream of patronage

Nov 26, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
The declaration of assets by public officials to the Integrity Commission was designed to act as a deterrent to corruption by public officials. Recent disclosure by an article,” Integrity Commission to take MPs, state officials to court over undeclared assets,” SN Nov 14th, was enough to send shock waves amongst the citizenry. That did not happen.
Prior to this disclosure, the Auditor General was keeping the public on a daily diet of discrepancies unleashed by public officers on the treasury, in the form of late or no submission of audited cost for projects, granting of contracts to the highest bidder, payment to contractors for works not completed and a slew of other asinine financial malpractices.
The Auditor General should consider taking some of these miscreants to court too.
Did the Integrity Commission chairman follow through on his threat to take these MPs and state official to court? I think not. Some huge names were cited from the Govt’s side (C Greenidge, R Bulkan, G Norton, V Lawrence, J Harmon, N Henry, K Scott).
On the opposition MP bench, there was M.A Nandlall and F Anthony etc. Even Speaker of the House, B. Scotland, and Clerk of the National Assembly, S. Isaacs made the list. Names like Nandlall and Anthony, two presidential candidate hopefuls for the PPP, appearing on the list, do not auger well for a return to the PPP in 2020, from the standpoint of corruption that plagues this Nation.
Now that Nandlall has to stand trial for his alleged removal of the Lexus Nexus law books from the Attorney General’s office, a can of worms is opened for the PPP.
Soundness of character has never been a consideration of the communist-styled, central and executive committees of the PPP, in choosing presidential candidates.
Once a member makes it to one of these two committees, he/she remains there for life. Taking that as a known. How can the PPP deny being an elitist party?
When these top names in the highest echelon of the state’s bureaucracy (Govt and parliament) fail to comply on the simplest of procedure intended as a deterrent to corruption, it paints a bleak picture of how trivial the concept of fighting corruption is being treated, from the top.
It is of little wonder that the Auditor General is finding so much discrepancies in his realm-from the top, the stench of corruption has a way of filtering down. The Govt seems unwilling to attempt to address corruption that is ongoing even at the RDC’s level despite the yearly pronouncements of irregularities of multiple sorts by the Auditor General at the Public Accounts Committee.
The main reason for Governments, past and present, being unwilling to fight corruption stems from the fact that they (govts) are a never ending stream of sweet patronage.” Skeletons in closets” are tolerated as all in position scramble to fill their pockets.
Corruption was prevalent in the PPP reign. Corruption has increased significantly since the advent of the Coalition. If the recent motion of no confidence filed against the Govt by Jagdeo, on the grounds of corruption succeeds that will not stop or impede corruption. We need Constitutional reform to tackle corruption.
Rudolph Singh

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