http://www.guardian.co.tt/editorial/2012-02-16/clear-air-funds-mr-warnerSurely if Jack Warner in his role as former FIFA vice president feels he does not have to answer integrity issues put out by the world football body, the same cannot be true in his capacity as a government minister. With even greater responsibility to the country for her minister’s alleged conduct is Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Can she take this minister with her to an international forum and be comfortable about unanswered questions about his character?
When last year’s allegations of bribery surfaced with fingers pointed at Mr Warner and Mohammed bin Hammam, the Prime Minister said such matters were outside her government’s jurisdiction. The Prime Minister reiterated her faith in her “best-performing minister” and skipped over any questions to her on the allegations. Eight months later and Mr Warner is once again being requested to present accounts of the Trinidad and Tobago football journey to Germany for the 2006 World Cup.
The claim that Mr Warner was the one who had the accounts of the T&T football team was made by then TTFF president, Oliver Camps, who is a longstanding colleague of Mr Warner’s and cannot be considered to be his enemy. Making up part of the booty yet to be accounted for, the total sum of which no one knows, were large sums of public funds, funds from corporate sponsors and money earned by the Soca Warriors for their participation in the World Cup. If the Prime Minister could have somehow ignored the first set of allegations on the grounds that they were somewhere off in the dark, she surely cannot close a deaf ear to allegations involving large sums of public funds.
Moreover, a government must by extension have responsibility to the business community and the many civic groups which came together to raise and fund the football effort to find out what transpired with such funding. And this holds true even though the Government of the day was not in power back in 2006. This is public money, not PP or PNM funds. Over the weekend there were further allegations about US$600,000 allegedly sent by FIFA and South Korea for Haiti’s relief after the 2010 earthquake. The query surrounds the allegations that the funds were sent through Jack Warner.
Haitian Football Federation president Yves Jean-Bart has been quoted by the reputable London Sunday Times as saying that his federation only received US$60,000 of the monies sent. We make no allegations as to where the monies went and whether or not the Haitians were deprived of urgent earthquake relief in their hour of need. What we do say is that Mr Warner should feel obliged to clarify these allegations, which are certainly not going to go away. When questioned on the Haiti issue on Tuesday, Mr Warner said: “Let them write, when I want to talk, I will talk. I have nothing to answer to anybody.” Some may find this to be an inappropriate response to an issue that has attracted international attention.
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar must know that she as the leader also has a responsibility to answer to the country about her ministers. When in opposition, many were the occasions when UNC MPs called on the then Prime Minister to investigate and fire ministers for one perceived wrongdoing or the other.
While this newspaper holds firmly to the presumption of innocence as being the cornerstone of justice in a democracy, we feel it is inapposite for these clouds of allegations to be hanging over this country’s most visible, hard-working and popular government minister. We urge Mr Warner to bring clarity to both the Haiti issue and the matter of the accounts for the Soca Warriors’ 2006 football effort. And we call on the Prime Minister to be on standby to give Mr Warner a little nudge if he continues to be reticent in providing clarity.
