The Brief Contentious Ministership of Trinidad & Tobago’s <PERSON> · Global Voices
Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs Minister <PERSON> (R) opening a new community centre in central Trinidad on June 6, 2009. Shaking her hand is Village Council President <PERSON>. Photo by Trinidad News, CC BY 2.0.
The hiring and subsequent firing days later of a politician as minister of public utilities has some people in Trinidad and Tobago cracking jokes and others grumbling about the questions of corruption and poor governance that her brief stint in the position raises.
<PERSON> is not a newbie to politics, but she became a household name in Trinidad and Tobago when, at the beginning of 2016, she was accused of nepotism at her constituency office, using her influence to secure state housing for her common-law husband and starting a fake non-governmental organisation (NGO) in order to access public funds.
Her actions were called into question under the tenets of the Integrity in Public Life Act — in fact, <PERSON> was still under probe by the country's Integrity Commission when she was sworn in as the new minister of public utilities on June 29, 2017, after a Cabinet reshuffle.
That alone left a bitter taste in the mouths of many netizens, but the cherry on the cake came when photographs of McDonald's swearing-in ceremony became public. One photo from the Trinidad Express newspaper soon began to be shared on social media sites, showing <PERSON> flanked by her partner and a “community leader” from her constituency. (In Trinidad and Tobago, the term is often used as a euphemism to describe gang leaders.)
<PERSON>'s guest, <PERSON>, had been arrested a few years ago under a state of emergency called by the previous administration, so Facebook users soon began to post updates that questioned “how an alleged criminal was allowed to enter President's House”. <PERSON> has never been convicted of a crime.
The Office of the President subsequently said that it had asked Minister <PERSON> to submit a guest list for the swearing ceremony, at which point she asked for two extra invitations, but never provided the names of the additional guests. 957
Upon their arrival, the guests were told that their names were not on the list, and that they were not properly attired. They were made to wait downstairs, but when <PERSON> arrived, she accompanied them upstairs and introduced <PERSON> as her guest and constituent.
Following the faux pas, there was much discussion on Facebook and Twitter, with many calling for <PERSON> to be fired.
In a public Facebook post, university lecturer and political commentator <PERSON> commented:
<PERSON> and <PERSON> are known financiers of the UNC [the United National Congress party, currently in opposition] and are currently facing the courts. Whether their shirts are tucked into their trousers or not, if they were to have attended the swearing in ceremonies of a UNC Minister people would automatically understand the picture it painted for a UNC Government, the Cabinet, Treasury, white collar crime and violent crime.
This is the central problem with <PERSON>, <PERSON> and President <PERSON> being in a photograph together: the lines between the powerful 1% and the criminal class are so blurred that we can no longer guarantee the integrity of our government and the safety of our Treasury.
Unless I am mistaken all three persons, two of whom are government officials, are currently ‘known to the police’, and have access to our Treasury whether through State contracts or their jobs.
We need campaign finance reform. Badly.
#DeViceCyahDone
#StrenkAndPowaz
#MehFriendAndDem
Apart from <PERSON> having been arrested and <PERSON> being under probe by the Integrity Commission, the president is currently under investigation for receipt of a housing allowance while living in state housing.
While some netizens thought that the security detail at President's House should be under scrutiny, others felt that the fact that <PERSON> was being reappointed at all spoke volumes about the prime minister's judgement. There was no doubt that Prime Minister <PERSON> got the message, though — by July 2, it was announced that <PERSON> had been fired.
<PERSON> has been fired from the cabinet again according to a release from the Office of the Prime Minister pic.twitter.com/yedO86fxH5
— <PERSON> (@KejanHaynes) July 2, 2017
The political satire website Wired868 had details:
[Prime Minister] <PERSON> is believed to have asked <PERSON> to resign on Saturday, less than 24 hours after she was sworn in by <PERSON>. The Port of Spain South MP [minister of parliament] apparently resisted. 600