The United Progressive Party (UPP) continues to call for an independent investigation into the Ministry of Public Works scandal involving the unauthorized purchase of reportedly hundreds of vehicles, amounting to $15 million.
The Party places no confidence in Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s selective narration of the events, in which he places blame everywhere – except where it most belongs: with the Minister of Public Works, his wife, and the Minister of Finance and Corporate Governance, himself.
No thinking person could credit that a scam of this magnitude was not known to either minister. But if, indeed, it was not, then their failure to know what was taking place in both their ministries renders them unfit to govern.
Further, Prime Minister Browne’s inauthentic attacks on business people and his sudden championship of the poor ring hollow after a decade of greedy self-enrichment by Cabinet Ministers.
His declarations are nothing but base pandering and a barely disguised attempt to win the approval of the outraged and exploited taxpayers. We see right through Prime Minister Browne.
Given the fallout, so far, including the transfers and pending reassignments of senior officers and – most telling – the resignation of the Comptroller of Customs, this is not a matter that can, casually, be swept under the carpet or minimized by acts of fake forgiveness.
Instead of strenuously pointing the finger away from himself and his wife, we say the Prime Minister should call an independent investigation into the Ministry of Public Works and allow the facts and the testimony to speak for themselves. Those who are innocent should have nothing to fear.
If faith and trust in the government systems are to be restored, nothing less than an independent investigation will suffice.
