Senator Richards: I’ll get threats on procurement bill

INDEPENDENT Senator Paul Richards said whether he supports or opposes the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property (Amendment) Bill 2020 in the Senate on Tuesday, he will afterwards receive personal threats. He did not, however, disclose the possible source of the threats.

Richards said in his six years in the Senate, he has never before been so intensely lobbied on the bill “from both sides.”

“Calls, e-mails, droplets in your mailbox, hardcore lobbying, to advocate on behalf of X or Y.

“Today a lot of spotlight has been placed on nine of us (independent senators). We’ll be individually judged, accused, praised or vilified, no matter how we interpret the arguments presented, no matter how we vote.”

He said he even had to be careful about what colour tie he wore, as so much was at stake in the debate.

“This to me is one of the most important moments in our country’s history because it is about accountability, transparency, good governance, checks and balances, and balance.”

Richards said TT has had decades of corruption at the highest levels, since the 1960s, while seemingly being unable to get a handle on it, no matter who is in power.

He said corruption seemed to be part of our DNA, and asked if TT has the will to deal with it.

“We also don’t seem to be able to make the connection between corruption, lawlessness, cruelty, violent predatory behaviours of the persons who brutally killed Ashanti Riley, 18 years old, and 47 other women and 7,000 other women and girls who were killed, raped, assaulted in this country in the past 20 years in this country.”

Richards said people think there is a disconnect between lawlessness at one level and lawlessness at another level, but they are all connected.

“There is a seeming culture of lawlessness and impunity in TT that is so interconnected that it should make us all very uncomfortable.”

He said people jailed for corruption could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

“What is the message being telegraphed? Do what you want. Steal, embezzle, rape, (be) corrupt, without any risk or very low risk of being identified, caught, questioned or brought to justice.

“In the case of corruption, that itself has become so politicised that you can’t win on either side of the political divide.

“No matter what I say today or how I vote today, I’ll be on the receiving end of threats, insults, innuendo, supposition, ridicule, and in some instances praise, but as I explained to a colleague this weekend this is not a popularity contest.” Saying his role was not to say things to get people comfortable, he said we need to get uncomfortable.

“Not just for a week of superficial outrage, and I say superficial not to denigrate people’s real emotional outrage about girls and women being raped, murdered, assaulted, but superficial because very little if anything tangible has been done to stop heinous crimes and corruption.”