Fire-trucking Politics...

In a clear case of the candle costing more than the funeral, the nation was thrown into an uproar earlier this week when it was learnt that the government had agreed to spend three times the value of a firetruck that had crashed at the bottom of a precipice to wreck it. Leaving a distinct taste of corruption in the mouths of most, the idea of spending almost seven million dollars to go after something that cost us two million in the first place seemed excessive and inexplainable, and when the news broke that other 'tenders' to move the same truck came in at fifty thousand dollars the story collapsed on itself. Now the rumors were flowing fast and furious, and a further media story alleged that the same Cabinet that had initially refused to sign off on the extravagant amount later knuckled under and signed it, leaving many to speculate as to who was incompetent, who was complicit and who was both. Worse still and bleeding out of this now infected and seeping sore is the allegation that a former government Minister who is now campaigning to get himself re-elected into Parliament had allegedly ignored the Cabinet's decision and made a 'deal' with the 'lifting' Company that found themselves so blessed, causing many to stop and speculate as to who did the wagging in this dog of a government we find ourselves saddled with.

That is the hardest pill in all of this, the fact that the Cabinet KNEW this to be fire-trucking nonsense, that they rejected the initial fire-trucking explanations and yet, when presented with a fire-trucking fait accompli closed ranks around the illegality and spent the people's money without regard. Clearly the question that must follow that action is why. Why did they not cut him loose and leave him to swing on the consequences of his own questionable behavior? What changed to give them reason to approve it after all? Who made up this 'they' that signed off on it? Were some if not all given a cut of the now KNOWN ill gotten gains?

Unlike suspect print outs and potentially true/potentially false email conversations, here is tangible, easily understanable proof that much is amiss in the corridors of power and perhaps these people ought not to be trusted with the national cheque book any further.

So what do we do?

We must waste no time. We must invite the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Anti Corruption Investigative Bureau to have a look at this matter. We must ask them to request all documents concerning this transaction including and especially the competing tenders so that a justification could be sought for this outlandish scheme to defraud the people of this country.

They must be instructed to use forensic and whatever other accounting procedures required to follow the money and unearth the proceeds of this transaction so as to corral all who may be guilty of conspiring either before or after the fact and to have them all measured for state sponsored attire.

We as a nation must not tarry on this one, we must not give the guilty parties and their supporting casts the opportunity to erase evidence and rewrite history, this one must be as swift as it must be sure as just as surely, in a situation such as this where the figurative gun is still smoking, if our Justice system cannot effect a prosecution we may also have to wonder what is the point of all of it.

As easily understood as former Sports Minister Gary Hunt's two million dollar flag that created the run that resulted in the last government being ousted, this instance of abuse is too easy to understand by a badly let down and upset public who should be seeking nothing less than total justice. We must demand no mistakes be made, no errors tolerated - forced, unforced or otherwise that would give the guilty wiggle room and appeal opportunities. We must demand a fast proverbial kill here, no blood on the judicial knife, just a gathering of evidence, a laying of charges, arrests and speedy prosecution(s). This matter must result in a guilty verdict for all involved in quick time if the people are not to lose all faith in all the systems of our governance, otherwise the slippery slope that we have been negotiating for some time may all but fall out from under us, leaving us to deal with the free fall of a nation on its way to becoming a failed state.