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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Gift, kick-back or kick-forward?</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Ken Chaplin
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Ken Chaplin</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>When I served as press secretary to Prime Minister Michael Manley, one day he became furious because he heard that a trade unionist had gone to a prominent businessman and told him that "Michael sent me for the thing". During the leadership of Norman Washington Manley as premier and president of the People's National Party, and Michael Manley as prime minister and president, no one could rightly associate the name of the party or its government with corruption. But things have changed since Michael resigned both as prime minister and president of the PNP in 1992, after he became ill. Indeed, since 1993 the government has increasingly been floating in a sea of corruption.<P class=StoryText align=justify>I have heard of prominent Jamaican capitalists contributing to the party's election campaign fund as they do to the Jamaica Labour Party's, but I have never heard of any foreign corporation doing business with government, making any contributions. As far as I know, the Dutch international oil trading company, Trafigura Beheer, is the first foreign company having a contract with the Jamaican government that has contributed or made a donation to the PNP election campaign fund. The amount of $31 million is substantial for a "gift" to a political party.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Trafigura Beheer has contradicted claims by chairman of the PNP, Robert Pickersgill, and former secretary general, Colin Campbell, that the money was a gift to the party. The company said the amount was not a gift but was made under a "commercial agreement" to an account in the name of Colin Campbell Our Candidate (CCOC) at FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB). The account was opened in 1992 to support Campbell's election to Parliament. Campbell at first said CCOC meant nothing. However, it was clear that the account in FCIB functioned as a PNP fund-raising account. It was into this account that Trafigura Beheer's cheques were credited. Campbell was one of those authorised to draw on the account. Up to the time of writing what constituted the "commericial agreement" was not revealed.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The whole "shebang" was blown open after banking regulations were breached and copies of cheques for $31 million were sent to Opposition Leader Bruce Golding. That is a separate matter which the PNP is pursuing vigorously to get recompense, and rightly so. However, given the circumstances, no Opposition in the world would remain silent, especially with general elections near, and Golding went to sea.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The explanation by Trafigura Beheer that the money was paid out under a "commercial agreement" was perhaps made out of fear that the deal might be interpreted as a kick-back by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials. The company was quick to point out that it conducts business in accordance with the rules of the convention. People close to the leadership of the PNP know that nearing a general election the party sends out letters to foreign and local contractors as well as heads of public entities, among others, seeking donations to the party's election fund.<P class=StoryText align=justify>If, as the chairman of the party Robert Pickersgill said, the money was not a kick-back but a gift to the party, then it was most certainly a kick-forward, that is to say, [b]Trafigura Beheer app
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Ken Chaplin
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Ken Chaplin</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>When I served as press secretary to Prime Minister Michael Manley, one day he became furious because he heard that a trade unionist had gone to a prominent businessman and told him that "Michael sent me for the thing". During the leadership of Norman Washington Manley as premier and president of the People's National Party, and Michael Manley as prime minister and president, no one could rightly associate the name of the party or its government with corruption. But things have changed since Michael resigned both as prime minister and president of the PNP in 1992, after he became ill. Indeed, since 1993 the government has increasingly been floating in a sea of corruption.<P class=StoryText align=justify>I have heard of prominent Jamaican capitalists contributing to the party's election campaign fund as they do to the Jamaica Labour Party's, but I have never heard of any foreign corporation doing business with government, making any contributions. As far as I know, the Dutch international oil trading company, Trafigura Beheer, is the first foreign company having a contract with the Jamaican government that has contributed or made a donation to the PNP election campaign fund. The amount of $31 million is substantial for a "gift" to a political party.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Trafigura Beheer has contradicted claims by chairman of the PNP, Robert Pickersgill, and former secretary general, Colin Campbell, that the money was a gift to the party. The company said the amount was not a gift but was made under a "commercial agreement" to an account in the name of Colin Campbell Our Candidate (CCOC) at FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB). The account was opened in 1992 to support Campbell's election to Parliament. Campbell at first said CCOC meant nothing. However, it was clear that the account in FCIB functioned as a PNP fund-raising account. It was into this account that Trafigura Beheer's cheques were credited. Campbell was one of those authorised to draw on the account. Up to the time of writing what constituted the "commericial agreement" was not revealed.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The whole "shebang" was blown open after banking regulations were breached and copies of cheques for $31 million were sent to Opposition Leader Bruce Golding. That is a separate matter which the PNP is pursuing vigorously to get recompense, and rightly so. However, given the circumstances, no Opposition in the world would remain silent, especially with general elections near, and Golding went to sea.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The explanation by Trafigura Beheer that the money was paid out under a "commercial agreement" was perhaps made out of fear that the deal might be interpreted as a kick-back by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials. The company was quick to point out that it conducts business in accordance with the rules of the convention. People close to the leadership of the PNP know that nearing a general election the party sends out letters to foreign and local contractors as well as heads of public entities, among others, seeking donations to the party's election fund.<P class=StoryText align=justify>If, as the chairman of the party Robert Pickersgill said, the money was not a kick-back but a gift to the party, then it was most certainly a kick-forward, that is to say, [b]Trafigura Beheer app
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Dear Reader,<P class=StoryText align=justify>The tragedy of Jamaica is not the deep and entrenched systemic corruption that has engulfed us; it is that most of us have come to accept it as a way of life. In other words, corruption has become a culture. The reality is that corruption has contaminated the entire system - running and rippling through every level and facet of national life - government, private sector, civil society, down to each of us as individuals. The point is that it is hard to criticise when you yourself are complicit.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Actually, that's what the government is counting on. Our political leaders know full well that very few of us can question them, including the parlimentary Opposition. A friend of mine put it this way, "Betty Ann, there is a constituency of business people (I call them the "corporate cartel"), who have never made as much money as they are currently making under the PNP administration, including people from the other side of the political fence, so who is going to bell the cat?" Not only does the government have complete control of the commanding heights of the economy with its networks of clients and patrons, but it has been successful in relegating the masses to a state of complete unconsciousness and dependence. It is very much like the strategy of slavery. Ignorant people don't know what questions to ask, and oppressed people don't have the tools to respond or react.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The unbridled contempt and arrogance with which the contractor general, Greg Christie, was dealt with over the few weeks of the parliamentary proceedings, only goes to prove that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and four consecutive terms in office by one political party is tantamount to absolute power. One gets the feeling that the message being conveyed to the public is: "You just don't have the right to ask any questions of us." Implicit in the arrogance is the threat that if you dare to question us, we will not only bury you, we will expose and destroy your family members as well. It's an interesting game with potentially explosive outcomes.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But arrogance is not the only blatant behaviour trait being exhibited. Fundamentally, it is also an attitude and practice of "uncaringness" for the poor. It is not just that the PNP inappropriately accepted a $31m-gift from an entity doing business with the state, but that they could choose to spend that type of cash on a conference when the country is sinking deeper and deeper into economic and social decay, and the plight of the poor is so materially wretched. The very week that this very expensive party conference was being staged, the newspapers were carrying stories of the deplorable conditions of the major maternity hospital for the poor, and a litany of woes resulting from meagre financial resources. The number of children in our country who have started the school term with no books in their book bags is downright disgraceful, particularly in the face of this demonstration of extravagance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is one thing for private citizens to live lives of luxury and excess, oblivious to the day-to-day hardships of the masses, including small children who go hungry and are without hope. It is another matter when the state engages in waste and wrongdoing. There is absolutely no excuse for that. We need to let our leaders know that we expect t
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