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But that would be sad, for though this scandal has not achieved what some persons, especially the man who broke it, intended - the downfall of the government - it has exposed the urgency of dealing with something which has kept Jamaica from progressing: corruption in government and society. Like the tip of an iceberg there is much more unseen below the surface; and some of the corruption and lies among parliamentarians, many of them in the Opposition, who are delighted over what Trafigura is doing to the Government.
How many JLP MP’s who wish for this scandal to topple the government and reveal the ineptitude of a Prime Minister coming from the bowels of the working class, are clean? It is common knowledge that MP’s in Jamaica use the people’s money to buy and sell power. Most, if not all of these MP’s have supporters, with lavish lifestyles, who can show no legitimate means of coming into these lifestyles. I have known of MP’s whose boys’ worked nowhere, but drove Mercedes Benzes and other expensive cars, wore expensive clothes, and lived in mansions. Did the MP provide them with this largesse out of his own salary, or the revenues of his business? Are these MPs any better than Mrs. Portia Simpson and Colin Campbell etc.?
There is a community in Jamaica, in which some of my relatives live; it is poor and backward, with many of the people living in shacks; yet one young lady with no education and job was suddenly provided a mansion - with electricity, water, and a satellite dish. When the people began to wonder and were amazed as to how she came by it, the answer was "she a cousin to the MP" - a member of the JLP. You would be surprised who the JLP MP is! How is this different from the Trafigura scandal, except that Trafigura is an international company with some questionable dealings?
Now to the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce which is condemning the Government, and alleging the incompetence of the Prime Minster. Are its members clean? Is there no corruption in business in Jamaica? Many of these businessmen routinely get special favors from their party in power. How and why do they get them? Do they just get them because of who they are or because they make donations to their party? Many of them are contributors to the Jamaica Labor Party. Why do they do so? Is it because they love their country or because they want their party to win, and to be on the top of their party’s list of favorites?
When I lived in Jamaica corruption was stink, and as things worsen with time, it must now must be unbearable. Police sought payoff everyday; government workers charged poor people for services which were free; and the people paid because they thought this was the way of life. When I worked at the tax office in May Pen, in the 80’s, people would come in daily with fake documents to register cars and land - they bought them at government offices. They would offer to pay me for providing simple services, such as collecting their own taxes.
Can such a country as Jamaica, expect better from its government? And to Mr. Bruce Golding: did you not sometime ago vote that Mr. Seaga was fit to lead the JLP despite his company owing the government millions of dollars in taxes and his workers in unpaid salaries?
Time is now overdue for Jamaica to begin the necessary but painful process of removing corruption from politics and life, if the country is to succeed. And the process must begin at the top, if it is to get down to the bottom; for when ordinary Jamaicans see their leaders willing to expose corruption in which they are involved and bear the consequences of it, they will be willing to reveal it and themselves turn away from it. The Trafigura affair, as sordid as it is, has provided the opportunity for this. Please don’t waste it.
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