I recently made this statement on International Anti-Corruption Day. “Taxpayer-funded institutions like the Integrity Commission must demonstrate vigorous regard for their statutory mandates and prepare to work with a full understanding of the adverse impact of corruption on our present and future. “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.”—Martin Luther King Jr. So, on this day that is dedicated by the global community as Anti-Corruption Day, every single citizen must pledge to bend his or her back to the task of ridding our society of the scourge of corruption. There must be a unity of purpose that transcends the parochialism of politics…There is no room for ego or thirst for power. It is time for unrestrained service. As a nation we must go beyond saying no to corruption”. I received a very thought-provoking comment on Facebook. “Knotgrass, the world’s worst weed can grow through oil sand and the smallest cracks in concrete. Talking to my friend Blacks the farmer I said “pull out a knot grass for me to photograph” He said “can’t do that only the top will come out, seven knots below the ground one on top of the other. Corruption in Trinidad is like that. It will soon grow back after cosmetic changes.”
This analogy resonates powerfully in the imagination of those of us from rural areas who were required to remove knotgrass. Knotgrass also known as Iron Grass, is a hardy plant that is drought resistant with wiry taproots that can penetrate the ground up to 45 centimetres making it especially hard to pull up from the ground. Is change so difficult? Are we living in a knotgrass society where we sanctimoniously deliver judgement on societal failings, but refuse to attempt to remove the knotgrass? Even denigrate those that seek to at least try. Fundamentally, the question that must be asked is whether we have grown immune to our failings that we now tolerate them with impunity?
On the eve of independence on August 30, 1962, Dr Eric Williams gave us our national watchwords in an address to a rally of the youths of Trinidad and Tobago (TT). Discipline, Production, Tolerance. “Your rally here today is a good demonstration of our mixed society, some of you have ancestors who came from one country, some from another, others from a third… you learn to live together in peace or you fight it out and destroy one another. The second alternative makes no sense and is sheer barbarism. The first alternative is civilised and is simple common sense. You the children, yours is the great responsibility to educate your parents, teach them to live together in harmony, the difference being not race or colour of skin, but merit only, differences of wealth and family status being rejected in favour of equality of opportunity.”
These inspiring words still resonate today with a deep sense of truth. But perhaps it is time to consider the addition of another national watchword. Intolerance. In a recent launch of the memoirs of former Chief Justice Michael de la Bastide, one of the collaborators provided a thought-provoking insight into the philosophical underpinnings of a man that has given much to justice in T&T, and the wider region. “One of my favourite quotes is, ‘Be intolerant. Be intolerant of incompetence, of inefficiency, and of inertia. Be as intolerant of these as you are or should be of injustice. If intolerance of this kind would spread, who knows what wonders we might perform.’” (Justice Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo on the publication of the memoirs of the former Chief Justice of TT, Michael de a Bastide, TT Newsday, December 9, 2021).
As nationals should we be intolerant of those that snatched away the lives of Ashanti Riley and Andrea Bharat? Should we be intolerant of those that gave us the soul-searing image of a four-year-old running around hysterically after having her father murdered while holding her hands? Should we be intolerant of a society where we were ranked 86th in the Corruption Index (with one being the least corrupt)) for 2020?
Intolerance as seen in Belgium, can lead to change. The story of Marc Dutroux provides vivid proof of the power of the public to transform a criminal justice system. In 2004, Dutroux was found guilty of having kidnapped, tortured and sexually abused six girls in the period 1995 to 1996, ranging in age from 8 to 19, four of whom died. On October 20 1996 about 300,000 people marched through Brussels in a demonstration called the “White March”. Everyone was carrying something white: a balloon, a cloak, etc.; some had painted their face white. White was meant symbolically, as the colour of hope. In the aftermath of the White March, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of the Interior and the Police Chief resigned. The enduring result was that the Belgian police underwent a fundamental structural reform that created an entirely new police system.
Should we seek to stop tolerating the crime and corruption epidemics that continue to affect us? Or do we wait for Judgement Day? According to Black Stalin, “Judgement morning, I by de gate and I waiting Because I begging de master, gimme a work with Peter. It have some sinners coming, with dem I go be dealing. Because de things that they do me, I want to fix dem personally”. Apt as the words may be, can we wait for Judgement Day to deal with the scourge of criminality and corruption that is tearing apart the fabric of our society? Our society is at a crossroad. We have tough choices to make. We have to each ask ourselves where do we stand? “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” (Martin Luther King Jr).
Removing knotgrass will never be easy, but we need to start somewhere. We at least owe that to our future generations, who will surely inherit our complacency and disinterest. Progress has never come easy, and actor Denzil Washington succinctly expresses this, “Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship.”
Professor Rajendra Ramlogan, Commercial and Environment Law, The University of the West Indies. The views expressed are entirely his own.