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Daryl Vaz is an experienced politician and a senior minister in the Andrew Holness JLP administration. 

He must act with decorum and demonstrate why he was given such authority. With authority comes responsibility. 

The  Jamaica National Rural School Bus Programme has been dogged by controversy and questions remain unanswered. 

As much as J$1.4 billion of taxpayers’ money was spent on 110 second-hand buses. 

Did this go to tender, and were procurement stipulations complied with? What is the relationship between Daryl Vaz and the entity given the contract to purchase the buses?

Daryl Vaz has a tendency to say I can do whatever I want once it is for the public good and those who question my actions are “bad mind”.

This is puerile behaviour for a government minister and the Prime Minister has to rein him in. He is becoming an embarrassment to the administration and is now a liability.

Now comes word that the Auditor-General Pamela Munroe Ellis will be probing the purchase of these buses. If Vaz is forthcoming, has all the paperwork in order and adhered to procedure, then he has very little to worry about.

Calmly and without fanfare, explain what occurred and come with receipts. Don’t blame the Gleaner, don’t rail against the Auditor-General and tell all that she is biased. As a Government Minister, demonstrate that you did this the right way and every thing is above board.

There have already been too many instances of corruption and government malpractice. Vaz must now show he is not joining the miscreants that have sullied the administration. He must comply with procedures, show accountability and willingly submit to governance.

He must take great care that he is not seen to go rogue and is an uncontrollable force of nature hell-bent on burnishing his sobriquet, “ Man of Action, Mr. Fix It.” 

Last time the Auditor-General took issue with his actions (The Starlink situation), he got indignant and bellowed he would do it again. That was a very immature approach to take.

The Auditor-General and her team took a preliminary look into the rural school bus program brought on by the hue and cry surrounding how it came to be and the money spent. That is  their job.. They concluded this was a serious matter warranting investigation, requiring a formal audit.

Daryl Vaz must account for how public money was spent. 

The rural school bus program is of itself a very good idea and can help school children, their parents and schools. It is cynical to dismiss it as simply an election stunt. It was spearheaded by Minister Vaz and he must shoulder full responsibility for both its successes and failures.

Juliet Holness and another member of the JLP administration made the point that its success should not be solely determined by how profitable it is. It was pointed out that in many First-World countries, such a program is heavily subsidised by the Government. That is correct. It is also correct that in developed countries, procurement measures must be abided by and there can be no hint of self-interest or connected parties gaining an advantage. If that is revealed, the minister and senior officials who knew what was going on have to resign.

Time and time again, we see the standards of governance in the central government are woefully low and partisanship prevails. This is to the detriment of Jamaica and renders it untrustworthy, some might say, bearing the hallmarks of a banana republic. When probity is done away with, it undermines the effectiveness of running a transparent government.

In the Trump era, we are seeing some leaders deciding that they can be bullish, crass, and nonconformative. They want to be like Trump and find temperance, compliance and taking a measured approach weak. Vaz is of this ilk and it is very concerning. It leads to distrust in institutions and tarnishes the image of what a minister of government should be.

A British naval commander once said that in times past, naval officers had to come from the upper classes because a higher level of civility and comportment was expected from them. It is in the breeding. Vulgarity and poor manners were considered uncouth.

Certain behaviours were the remit of the nouveau riche, the arriviste, the uneducated, the unwashed masses. While class should not determine entry to the top levels of government administration, the way one conducts themselves is vitally important here. You should be held to a higher standard. You have to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. You have to abide by the rules and seem to be doing so. That’s why you have been placed in that position. That’s why you have been given both power and authority and are expected to act with due discernment.

We must all ask ourselves when to exercise those things that are within our power and when not to.

Power is nothing without authority.