Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 07/Jul 07:39

The friends you keep

FRIENDSHIPS in politics can be both an asset and a liability, particularly if they are not managed carefully. This seems to be the case for Dr Rowley, as yet another one of his friends is in the spotlight. On Thursday, Allan Warner, long identified as the Prime Minister’s friend, was formally charged with processing aggregate without a licence after his aggregate mining plant was shut down in Wallerfield. Rowley and his wife, Sharon, have previously being accused of getting a deal on $1.7 million townhouse, when they bought it from Warner’s development in Tobago for $1.2 million. Questions have also been raised about Warner’s company's work on the ANR Robinson International Airport. It wasn't the first time that the Prime Minister’s friends have come under scrutiny. In 2017 another friend, Nazim Baksh, was being investigated in connection with the fake oil scandal at Petrotrin and then again when Mr Baksh's daughter was appointed a government senator. Ms Baksh resigned after the issue arose. It's not the only issue a prime minister has faced as a consequence of their friendships in recent memory. After being elected to office in 2010, Kamla Persad-Bissessar stayed at the Tunapuna residence of her friends Ralph and Maureen Gopaul, a seemingly innocent act that would come under investigation by the Integrity Commission after the Gopauls' business was named a preferred supplier for transportation of the products of the National Gas Company. In the case of Mr Warner, the spectacle of a multi-million dollar wash plant mining aggregate illegally is particularly galling. That's a lot of money to spend in dubious circumstances, more so when your friend who also happens to run the government has spoken quite clearly about stopping illegal mining. In perfect circumstances, friendships would continue after a successful candidacy, but the ruthless glare of political presence and unforgiving demands of public accountability inevitably become a third guest at every table. For politicians, the risk of an error by their friends is that they become tainted by the implications of the company they choose to keep. For their friends, the demands placed on casual fraternity are suddenly weighted by expectations that can challenge the most robust of friendships. Proverbs 13:20 offers this advice: "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." A biblical aphorism that's popularly restated as: "Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are." But the social frameworks of camaraderie fly in the face of political expediency, which exerts forces that distort the transactions on which friendship is based. What happens when friends become constituents? That's a reality that the career politician must navigate by balancing action and emotion with the unforgiving demands of public transparency. The post The friends you keep appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.