We have come of age... or have we?

AG FARIS AL-RAWI (Left) ( Government and Opposition MPs in discussion during the Committee Stage of the Civil Asset Recovery and Management and the Unexplained Wealth Bill, 2019, last Monday night. The bill was eventually passed by a unanimous vote. ) (Right)

There is hope for us as a people.

The Government and the Opposition have shown that when it matters most, our politicians can put their personal preferences aside and allow the good of the country to influence their decision-making and the nation welcomes this level of maturity at a time when it was least expected. There was far too much banter between the two parties over the Civil Asset Recovery and Management and Un-explained Wealth Bill, 2019 that was being debated. The people of Trinidad and Tobago with a sense of anxiety shared the opinion and held the view that for once if this Bill should become law and if implemented, it would be the tool needed by the Government to treat with the white-collar crime that is plaguing our country. There was always talk about the State not following the money to identify those who acquire wealth through ill-gotten gains. Many have noticed the excessive display of jewellery by those whose salary can barely afford to place food on the table. We watched the way those with low paying jobs were driving high-end vehicles and living in opulence and clearly, the public was right in its analysis that the income of many of those who live among us could not support the lifestyle they enjoyed. Therefore, when the Civil Asset Recovery, Management, and Unexplained Wealth Bill, 2019 was laid in Parliament, without really going through each clause one by one, the citizens of this country felt that it would be a welcomed addition to the body of laws already passed that would assist the police in their fight against crime.

The Opposition displayed a sense of maturity

For once, the Opposition displayed a sense of maturity that even shocked the Government Bench when it voted. The interrogation of the Bill by the Opposition demonstrated that it was neither politics nor business as usual. The Opposition raised issues related to our constitutional rights and the passion with which each member spoke reminded us of the need to ensure that, in our anxiety to reduce the level of crime in our country, we need to ensure that our basic rights are not taken away from us. For once the Opposition served as an honest watchdog of our Constitution and even though threats were made to allow the Judiciary to adjudicate on this Bill if it became law, at the Committee Stage in Parliament, both Government and Opposition demonstrated the type of will that convinced the Government to effect the changes that convinced them and the nation that our leaders do have the interest of our nation at heart. Everyone expected the Bill to pass even without the Opposition’s vote because of the Parliamentary majority the Government holds in our highest Court but when the Opposition registered its vote and gave to the Government a unanimous passing of this Bill it sent a strong message to the people of this country that we are together in the fight against crime.

Our constitutional rights

One of the strongest messages, which were sent, which we all hope that the Government has received, is that we do not have to change the rules of the Parliament to get good legislation passed. This was a bone of contention because many of us believed that this Bill affected our constitutional rights and ought to have been laid with the requirement of at least two-thirds or even three fifths of the votes in support of it and not just a simple majority. But there was a fear, which the Government harbored, an unrighteous fear that the Opposition will be the Opposition, one that lives to oppose whatever measures the Government seeks to put in place. The Government never trusted the Opposition to see the benefit of this legislation to the nation and to support it. There are lessons also for the Opposition to learn, one that requires trust in the process. They failed to recognize that the Government could be rational in its approach and for once listen, and rather than creating an environment for discussion and open conversation to take place in good faith, by threatening legal action they tried to force the Government’s hand introducing duress as a context to suit their purpose.

Many properties have been purchased as a way of laundering money

That this Bill was unanimously passed in the Lower House should be applauded and both the Government and the Opposition should use this model of open discussion void of all the unholy shenanigans to restore the faith in our people. But amid the successes gained, the nation is still very wary since many believe that this would just be another legislation on our books that would never be implemented. Many believe that the people who would be targeted would not be the Mr Bigs who influence power in our country but the small man who has become the only object of our derision. The population is reminded of platform rhetoric where politicians with no pockets when they were voted in leave with ones so deep that their names could be mentioned among the wealthiest citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. The population is reminded of those who built their career in the hallowed halls of our Parliament, the same sacred space where this Bill was passed, whose salary even now is way below their wealth and we wonder whether these would be investigated by law enforcement now charged to take a closer look at white-collar crime.

Many properties have been purchased as a way of laundering money. Many businesses have been established in malls where the owners pay high rent but not a single item for weeks is taken off their shelves. Therefore, the nation is waiting with bated breath to see how our law enforcement agencies would treat with these categories, which should be objects of further investigations. Church pastors should also not escape especially since their salaries are based on the tithes of poor church members; their wealth needs to be explained and while the people of this beautiful Republic are happy for the unity demonstrated in the Parliament in this fight against crime, they are uncertain as to whether it would change the social environment in which they now live. Our people are reminded about the Anti-Gang Act and yes, we are all waiting to see the effects of its implementation. We cannot, however, fail to acknowledge that both the Government and the Opposition moved in the right direction and voted in the interest of our people and for that as a nation we must celebrate because finally our leaders have shown us that they have come of age and that is a good sign for our country. But let us not hasten to celebrate too much too soon for this mature behaviour by our parliamentarians may be an aberration, the exception really and not the norm since immediately following the passage of the Bill both Government and Opposition rushed to publicly praise themselves that each of them had won. Have we really come of age?