Submitted by Kammie Holder
Political Affairs Officers are attached to embassies to report back to their home countries. Wikileaks showed the workings of US Political Affairs Officers the world over and their reportage to Washington. Reading “Milan Bush:The Measure You Give” by Carol Bryant, gives me much hope Washington is aware of what ever is done overtly or covertly in Barbados. Intrusive software, namely #Pegasus and #DiVinci means that all our communications if either good or bad is never secret.
On a recent trip to Liberia, I was shocked to see how the cancer of corruption has destroyed a country with diamonds, gold, iron, etc. A police officer in Liberia works for US$125 monthly, and a chicken cost US$15. Imagine no garbage collection, no piped running water, poor sanitation, and over US$100 million missing from the Liberian Central Bank. Not a fella aint get a day in jail. The USA recently sanctioned the outgoing Liberian Minister of Finance for bribery, and corruption, his entire family also had their US visas revoked.
I was extremely amazed, that despite a Liberian law that mandates that all elected officials must disclose assets upon attaining office, and a stipulated deadline to declare assets, politicians in Liberia are still able to use proxies as well as offshore companies to steal.
Recently, six politically exposed persons in Liberia were sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets and the US Treasury Department. If not comedic but still funny, former Zambia`s Foreign Minister Hon Stanley Kakubo, was caught on video taking cash from Chinese business persons ostensibly for private work.
In the Caribbean, unfortunately, true separation of powers only exists on paper, as very often political operatives head key decision-making departments as a reward from their political masters to do their biddings. Third world, and SIDS will come under the radar of the US Global Magnisky Human Rights Accountability Act where any foreign national involved in corruption or human rights abuses will be arrested whenever they land on US soil.
I wish for Barbados to have zero tolerance for corruption, and not just money laundering. Be ever mindful that the perception of injustice, and unfairness is the surest way to erode confidence in any society. The question begs of Politically Exposed Persons in Barbados can you say with any certainty, you are not on a watchlist, and can you visit the USA without fear of arrest?
May God grant the government of Barbados the wisdom, courage, sincerity, and testicular fortitude to make the Freedom of Information Act a reality in 2024, for it is one way to mitigate hurtful, nefarious, malicious gossip about politically exposed persons.
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