Dear Reader,

I suspect that the reason that the Trafigura scandal is seemingly dying a natural death (perhaps unlike the current Cockpit Country debate) is because nobody has sought to connect the issue of corruption with the plight of the poor in a way that the masses can understand and appreciate, and the middle and upper classes couldn't care less. After all, "everybody is corrupt", one man said to me, "and when I say everybody, I mean everybody - the private sector, the banks, the Opposition, the media - even the church. So why would anybody want to be bothered to continue to talk about Trafigura?"

As I have said before in this column, the biggest tragedy of our country is not the over 1,000 murders committed every year. The biggest tragedy is that our country has lost its moral centre to the extent that wrong is right and right is wrong. "But it's worse than that," a friend of mine added, "we don't even care whether it's right or wrong. We have become what they call in medical terms a 'no affect' nation. That is when the patient doesn't react to anything at all. We definitely have lost our energy for justice." One person puts it this way, "Sister, I just a look out for myself. I just want what I can get, and to hell with morals and principles." Only a fool would not be able to tell that this is the mark of a degenerating society.

As far as I am concerned, the Trafigura matter is more than one of an "inappropriate" gift. Even more troubling to my mind, is the moral depravity of the governing political party of this country which should be setting the moral tone and example for the nation. Worse even, is the fact that the rest of us have simply acquiesced.

Not only have we capitulated, but we are willing to consider re-electing to another term in office a political party that has lost its moral credibility. In any other accountable and functioning democracy, the head of government would have had to step down, either by force, moral suasion or through his or her own conviction of conscience. Not so here. In fact, the very opposite has happened, in that the very person who was identified as the "hit" man is still functioning as a part of the governing apparatus. What a paradox, and what an insult!

But I'm not sure that you can blame the government, if we the people don't care. Of course, there is the issue of fear and intimidation, however subtle. Very few people have the nerve or the courage to stand up and be counted. The political machinery is so well oiled with the lubricant of subtle-yet-deadly intimidation, that only those in the society who have counted the cost and are prepared to pay the price, can really speak publicly. There is no issue of national importance (even that of the abominable state of the nation's children) that one can speak about where you don't find yourself being squeezed into one partisan political corner or the other. To criticise, however constructively, is to set yourself up as an enemy of the state. The same is true if you criticise the Opposition.

Even those in the media who are bold enough to speak, become weary and disillusioned. For weeks, my colleague contributor to this newspaper, Mark Wignall, hammered at the Trafigura issue with some well-researched and thought-provoking articles, yet I noticed that very few of us supported the cause and the principle of this disgraceful story, until it fizzed out almost completely. One of the worst indictments on our country is the fact that we have found a label called, "nine-day wonder", where even the rape and murder of our children is swept under the rug or vanishes from the national agenda, if not from our individual consciousness.

One example that stands out in my mind is the virtual one-man battle of the contractor general, Greg Christie. A few people have supported him publicly, but the kind of collective endorsement of the principles for which he is fighting has not been forthcoming. Instead, he has been fed to the wolves, and cast into the lions' den to defend, almost by himself, standards and ethics that all of us ought to be embracing and protecting.

The Trafigura Beheer issue is nothing short of a national disgrace, and I expect that the public will demand answers to the many pressing questions surrounding the matter. The most obvious ones right now are: has the money been returned, and where has or will that money come from?

Equally damning is the moral and ethical issue of Jamaica doing business with an entity that is alleged to be in the business of hazardous waste trade with unsuspecting, poor, developing countries. One report from the Côte D'Ivoire recorded that "on October 17, 2006, not long after hundreds of tons of toxic waste were jettisoned around Ivory Coast's main city under the cover of darkness, Jean-Jacques Kakou awoke like thousands of others here to an overpowering stench that burned his eyes and made it hard to breathe. Three weeks later, he was dead, along with five others, from toxic waste poisoning". Trafigura was at the centre of this scandal, and that is the kind of company that our government chooses to do business with.

Whether we realise it or not, the Trafigura case represents the moral litmus test for our nation, and those of us with any fibre of moral decency left, ought to stand up and be counted on this one.
With love.

- bab2609@yahoo.com

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