Dear Reader,

It is more than uncanny that both the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and the Trafigura scandals hit the national news landscape at exactly the same time last week. No sooner than the People’s National Party began to beat its chest and to savour the sweet taste of the deepening plot of deception involving the Golding administration, the Trafigura story resurfaced, causing the Opposition to scurry along with the governing party to seek out their spin doctors and to employ whatever type of damage control strategies they think would work.

As if the two scandals weren’t enough to keep the politicians hopping and the media buzzing, yet another potentially damaging story also re-emerged last week — the contractor general’s probe into the allegation of “sweetheart” deals between PNP member of parliament Peter Bunting in his former capacity as one of the principals of the investment bank, Dehring, Bunting & Golding — which Bunting denies — and the former PNP Government.

You know a country is in deep trouble when both the ruling party and the Opposition are embroiled in allegations of scandals at the same time. Actually, the moral and political stalemate leads one to ask some very crucial questions: Who will lead the charge to prosecute whom? Which side will keep the other side in check? Are there any untainted, independent persons or institutions who can serve as the objective “brokers” when both sides have lost their moral authority?

It was the minister of information, Daryl Vaz, who ironically enough captured the essence of the impasse when he “tongue-lashed” the PNP by saying that it had no moral authority to question or criticise the JLP, describing the Opposition as having “more nerve than a bad tooth”. Fellow Jamaicans, what we have here is the classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, with sadly very few individuals or groups in the society willing to openly challenge the continuing “governability” of the two main political parties.

It is worthwhile to remind ourselves that it was an outside force, namely the United States of America, that brought the ugly scourge of the criminal networks of narcotics and gun trafficking to the fore, and is causing the country to openly confront the issue of corruption in high places. If the US had not intervened, Dudus’s empire with its tentacles and connections to the highest levels of power would have remained intact and completely undisturbed.

In fact, while it is sensational to focus on the juicy details of the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips saga, in the wider scheme of things, lying about whom the US law firm was working for and who paid the fees to the law firm, may actually be the lesser of the glaring evils. What the Jamaican people must not lose sight of is the bigger issue of the alleged links between the government and one of the biggest criminal networks in the hemisphere, and that issue is yet to be resolved.

Following the damning allegation by ABC News about the prime minister’s relationship with Dudus Coke, it was reported that the PM would pursue legal action against the American media giant. Alas! Nothing more has been said about that case, confirming what many of us suspected was just “hot air”.

As the saga unfolded, I was particularly offended by the self-serving way in which Bruce Golding sought to save his own political career at the expense of disparaging the image of the Jamaican people in the eyes of the entire world. It didn’t matter that our country was being described as a “narco state”, where devious and dangerous criminals were free to operate under the protection and promotion of elected governments, so long as Bruce Golding and his cohorts held on to state power, regardless of the damage to Jamaica’s reputation.

In most other democracies, the main Opposition party would easily capitalise on the moral vacuum created by a case as damning as Dudusgate. Regrettably, the PNP has been unable to command the moral high road, and the Trafigura case served last week to confirm the Opposition’s dilemma.

To this day, no answer has been forthcoming from the PNP as to the true nature of the $31m “commercial arrangement” confirmed by the Dutch oil-trading company, Trafigura Beheer. The PNP and Trafigura Beheer are still at odds with each other regarding the transaction. The PNP claimed that the money was for campaign financing, but the donor insisted that it was a “commercial arrangement”. The people of Jamaica are still waiting to hear the truth, and to this day we are left wondering what exactly was to be exchanged for the generous gift given to the PNP.

And the speculations continue to abound. In addition, questions are still being asked about whether the $31m was in fact returned to Trafigura Beheer. That is why Daryl Vaz felt justified in challenging the credibility of the PNP’s criticism of the JLP on issues of corruption.

The accusations of impropriety made against members of the two main political parties confirm the popular Jamaican saying, “No better herring, no better barrel”.

Somewhere between the half-truths, the untruths and the cover-ups, the Jamaican people are waiting to see if there is one honest politician from either side who will “speak the truth and shame the devil”. Some of us thought that the person to do that would have been Education Minister Andrew Holness. Alas! no such luck. Instead, Holness on national television brushed aside the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips matter, essentially saying that it was nothing more than a distraction. What a country!

With love,

bab2609@yahoo.com