UNC deputy political leader Dr Roodal Moonilal. – File photo/AYANNA KINSALE
UNC deputy political leader Dr Roodal Moonilal claims the TT Transparency Institute (TTTI) has been silent on matters relating to alleged corruption in the country since the People’s National Movement (PNM) returned to government in 2015.
“I have taken note that when the UNC was in office, the Transparency International leaders did not sleep. They pronounce and denounce with monotonous frequency,” he told Sunday Newsday via WhatsApp.
“From the moment the UNC demitted office, these agencies go to sleep. Today, nobody hears of TI any more.”
The Oropouche East MP alleged several million-dollar projects, initiated under the PNM administration, were riddled with corruption.
“These mega million-dollar projects suggested poor governance, corruption, a lack of accountability and TI remains on vacation on the paradise islands.”
Moonilal was responding to an opinion article in the UK Guardian on Saturday, which claimed that corruption was “embedded” in many Caribbean islands, including TT, surpassing countries in the developed world.
The article, headlined Trouble In Paradise: corruption in the Caribbean has become normalised, was written by Kenneth Mohammed.
In the article, Mohammed claimed, “the Caribbean is home to some of the wealthiest politicians in the world yet the ever-popular posts on social media about the richest or best paid in the region tend to ignore most of the millionaire or billionaire politicians of Trinidad and Tobago and other islands.”
He wrote, “It is interesting to see some of the net worth of some of these politicians and shocking that some were of average wealth, only becoming millionaires or billionaires since taking office.”
Mohammed further claimed the citizens who voted them into power have become poorer, more disempowered and more disenfranchised.
Economist Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon. –
He claimed some of the politicians had acquired their wealth legitimately while others profited using insider information and received contract through proxies, kickbacks and bribes. Mohammed cited former government minister and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner as an example, saying he is fighting extradition to the US on bribery and corruption charges.
According to Moonilal, combating corruption, in its various manifestations, requires deep legal, policy and institutional reforms.
“Regrettably, it cannot be left to cultural and value driven impulses. The persistence of nepotism, fraud, bribery, kickbacks, conflicts of interest and helping hands to family and friends have become a norm in our twin island Republic.”
He said the former UNC-led People’s Partnership government has “a proud history of addressing poor governance.” His comment is in stark contrast to claims by the ruling PNM of rampant corruption by state agencies under the former PP administration.
Moonilal noted although the “flagship procurement laws were passed by the partnership government, “eight years later it cannot be properly implemented and has been significantly watered down to exclude significant state contracts and negotiations where serious allegations have arisen over the years.”
He also recalled that under the former administration, TT obtained candidate country status under the Extractive Industries Transparency Institute (EITI) and in 2015, became a full member of the EITI.
“In 2015, our last year in office, we were declared “complaint” with the requirements of the EITI as announced in Port of Spain by the international board of the EITI.
“We did the hard work to ensure that we reported on revenues and allowed for the disclosure of sensitive and confidential tax information, all within the law. This is what accountability is all about.”
Financial economist and university lecturer Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon also weighed in on the article.
He said even though TT has improved in the overall corruption perception rankings by Transparency International compared to other countries – moving from 101 in 2016 to 77 out of 180 countries in 2022 – “77 is still a low number and signifies we have a long way to go before corruption levels are meaningfully stymied and no longer play a role in worsening our economic fabric.”
Of greater importance, Arjoon said, is the actual index score which quantifies TT’s corruption perception.
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“We scored 42, which is marginally higher than our index in 2020 of 41, when we placed 86th. Further, we are outperformed by several of our Caribbean counterparts including Barbados (29th), Jamaica (39th) and Saint Lucia (45th).”
He noted the last control of corruption indicator given by the World Bank in 2021 places TT in the bottom half of all countries in the 47th percentile.
Describing corruption as an “Achilles heel” in TT and other parts of the Caribbean and Latin America, Arjoon told Sunday Newsday it hinders effective fiscal management and transparency in government spending.
Poor procurement standards, he argued, “enables some state officials to engage in corrupt activities by awarding government contracts to less deserving entities who are politically favoured, in exchange for a kickback payment or bribe.”
For instance, Arjoon said, “if a particular government awards an infrastructure construction project to a favoured contracting firm, many times the firm may overbid on the project so that part of the funds can be used to pay the bribe.
“They may also delay completion and as the project rolls over year after year, the cost of completion goes up as there are cost overruns, which means more room for additional kickbacks to be paid to state officials. The longer these projects take to be completed, it prevents us from enjoying the economic benefits.”
He said improving the transportation infrastructure network, like roads and highways, increases customer access and facilitates the faster delivery of raw materials to businesses.
But Arjoon noted these benefits are stymied due to corrupt activities inflating the project cost and delaying its completion.
“Further, when monies are lost due to corruption, it deprives other sectors in the economy that could have made more productive use of these funds or other government projects that could have created more jobs and lower our poverty levels.”
He said corruption also exacerbates what he called the shadow/underground economy in the region.
Sunday Newsday reached out to PNM chairman Stuart Young for comment but he did not respond to WhatsApp messages. TTTI chairman Reynold Cooper also could not be reached for comment.
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