Bobol Is Corruption! Corruption Is Crime In Trinidad And Tobago

It has been said that history repeats itself, and lightning does not strike the same place twice. In Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), it's different. Corruption or bobol in T&T is similar to a dinosaur that laid its eggs in secret and the babies are now hatching. History continues to repeat itself. Crime follows corruption; inseparable. If you see corruption, you are bound to see crime riding along. They are, at the hip, intimately tied together. It's similar to what 'Old Blue Eyes' Frank Sinatra sang:“Love and marriage, love and marriage. Go together like a horse and carriage. This I tell you, brother. You can't have one without the other...Try, try, try to separate them. It's an illusion...”

There will always be crime if there is corruption because corrupt practices support criminal intent and vice versa. Lying and cheating are criminal activities. Many people try to make excuses that 'it's not so bad.” That 'not so bad' justification reminds me of what I learnt in high school from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice,“A goodly apple rotten at the heart.” I have determined that 'not-so-bad' is damned bad! When did all this corruption show its hideous face in T&T? Everything has a beginning, but the end is sometimes very difficult to unravel or decipher. Trinidad and Tobago has a history of ebb and flow of corruption and crime.

In 1958, the West Indies Federation was established by the British Caribbean Federation Act of 1956. The net objective of this federation was to establish a political union among its members. The members comprised ten territories: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, the then St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago.

Notwithstanding the high hopes of a great West Indian union, Jamaica, for whatever reasons, decided to leave the union of nations. This situation gave rise to the statement aired by Dr Eric Eustace Williams:“One from ten leaves nought.” In light of this, the British dissolved the federation in 1962.

By this time, T&T was already into hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation and found itself an independent nation on August 31, 1962. According to the World Wide Web, in 1962, Trinidad's hydrocarbon exploration was at its peak year for drilling and marked a turning point with the country's independence. While land exploration had become less successful, the industry's focus was shifting towards offshore prospects, a move that would lead to major discoveries later in the decade.

With the benefits derived from 'oil money,' T&T was set to develop at a rapid pace. However, with such development, several unsavoury activities ensued that reeked of corruption. Corruption could otherwise be regarded as bobol. The term 'bobol' is defined in Lise Winer's dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. The entry is posted as“Bobol, bubol, boboll, bubbul N Graft: corruption; fraud; embezzlement. [ˈbʌbɔːl] (south central Zoombo Kikongo lu-bubulu 'corruption'; Kikongo bubula 'become corrupt'; go rancid) (Northern Angola).” Bobol is crime with a different name.

Early in my childhood, my ears picked up talk about the LockJoint corruption fiasco. I was not politically and/or sufficiently schooled to understand everything about the who, what, where and when such activities were occurring and how they would directly or indirectly affect me. I didn't even know that there was the word bobol.

According to the article 'Corruption and Trickery-a Trini way of Life' published in the Saturday Express (31/03/2017), Andy Johnson highlighted a book by Louis Lee Sing titled: I used to Live in Heaven-Letters to my Granddaughters. Lee Sing looked at the culture of corruption in T&T and cross-examined himself:“I have often asked myself how a matter so straightforward could be so crooked, or should the question be, how could so many crooked people be so skillful in keeping the truth of their crookedness buried.”

Nineteen days later, Dr Terrence Farrell published the book: We Like It So– The Cultural Roots of Underachievement in Trinidad and Tobago. Farrell also spoke about the corruption in T&T. In terms of some of the major bobols, Farrell presented his list that began with Lock Joint, which resurrected my childhood memories. Among the other corrupt arrangements he itemised were the BWIA Tristar purchase, Tesoro Oil Company acquisitions, the Gas Station Racket of 1965, Sam P Wallace (Caroni Racing Complex), International Trust Ltd, Piarco Airport, UDeCOTT, LifeSport and Section 34 and several appointees to various State positions proffered bogus academic qualifications. Even the Integrity Commission itself has had its own integrity challenged, he says, adding that the country continues to decline consistently on the corruption perception index published by Transparency International, with an assertion that,“Trinidadians apparently regard corruption as qualitatively different from other crimes.”

In terms of the Gas Station Racket that involved Gene Miles as the star witness, Maxie Cuffie in his article 'The Gas Station Racket' published in the T&T Guardian (16/06/2013) stated:

“If a history of official corruption in T&T were ever to be written, one suspects it would begin with the Gas Station Racket. This was well chronicled in the records of what came to be known as the Gas Station Racket Enquiry of 1965, in which Gene Miles emerged as a star witness. Testimony at the inquiry suggested the involvement of government officials, including former minister of petroleum and mines, John O'Halloran, in awarding lucrative gas station licenses for kickbacks. Major fortunes were made through the award of those licenses.

The true legacy of the gas station racket, however, is that it set a template for doing business with the state, from which we are yet to recover... months passed without our hearing anything and although my friends soon began to despair that the gas stations were going to be awarded based on the O'Halloran model, I advised them to trust the process, since we had all submitted well-researched proposals and had been able to accumulate teams with solid retail industry experience. Eventually, we were contacted only to be informed that the process had been scrapped without explanation: National Petroleum (NP) had decided not to pursue its franchising strategy and all applicants would be refunded their tender deposits.

Although no official word had been given, there was talk that the ghost of O'Halloran was, 37 years later, still hovering over the People's National Movement (PNM), and the government of the day was reluctant to make any awards which could lead to political fallout.”

“In his chapter on 'Corruption and Trickery,' Farrell writes in We Like it So on what he sees as the roots of this culture in Trinidad and Tobago. He traces it to the folktales of Brer Anansi, the character out of West African mythology.” Andy Johnson states:

“Summarizing further, Farrell writes,“British officials arriving with the 1797 English conquest did little to change Trinidad's picaroon social character attracting all manner of scoundrels, possibly including the governor himself.” A man named Fullarton had been sent on a mission to investigate complaints of corruption against governor Picton. But“less than a week after he left, it was discovered that Fullarton had cleaned out the Trinidad treasury, which on his arrival six months earlier had been 100,000 dollars in balance, the savings of six years.”

From the writings of Naipaul and Lovelace, Farrell finds substance for his conclusion that the Trinidadian attitude to corruption is one in which perpetrators are viewed with“grudging admiration for their 'intelligence' in pulling off their deceptions.” He says the corruption which Naipaul noted in 1962, in the constant leakage of school examination papers, and teacher corruption in school-based assessments allegedly continue up to today (and many believe, explain why certain schools consistently do better than other-more honest schools).

“Petty corruption in the police service, customs, motor vehicles and transport division is seen as rife and there have been instances of bribery in the judiciary.“Since independence, and despite the Integrity Commission set up under the 1976 Constitution in 1988 and re-established in 2005, major corruption scandals in Trinidad (but interestingly, not Tobago) have come and gone with no one being brought to book.”

Those were the bobols of yesterday. We cannot see what is to come tomorrow, but we know what is happening today. We could just forecast what will happen tomorrow based on what happened yesterday and today. Yet it seems that we are a stiff-necked generation, stuck in our nastiness! Change is hard, and we grab and snatch at everything. In this dispensation, according to Kevin K. Birth in his book Anytime is Trinidad Time-Social Meanings and Temporal Consciousness (1999), we tend to believe in instant gratification and sacrifice future gratification.

In light of the above, T&T has not changed its behaviour, for it seems that some Trinis possess the DNA to be corrupt. In her keynote address, 'Corruption in Trinidad and Tobago: Perception or Reality,' at the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute Launch of Corruption Perception Index 2020, Senator Hazel Thompson-Ahye mentioned:“One of the indicators of the ease of doing business that potential investors examine is the level of corruption in the society.”

So what is T&T's situation with corruption on a global scale? According to Transparency, T&T's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score is 41/100 and ranks number 82 against 180 other countries. In terms of corruption, the lower the figure, the higher the corruption. The Corruption Index in T&T averaged 39.63 points from 2001 until 2024, reaching an all-time high of 53.00 points in 2001 and a record low of 32.00 points in 2006 (source: Transparency International).

In recent times, shortly after the April 28, 2025 general elections, the big bacchanal involving the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) and the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) have not yet been resolved. Reporter Alison Chamely in the article: 'Ameen Talks about URP Ghost Gangs, Corruption' in the AZP News (14/07/2025) declared:

Rural development and local government minister Khadijah Ameen is accusing the former People's National Movement (PNM) government of widespread corruption and political interference in the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP). Among her accusations are ghost gangs , financial mismanagement...Ameen alleged that of the $300 million allocated for URP for fiscal year, $231 million had already been drawn down, with $229 million being spent on salaries alone.

Ameen said,“Ghost gangs are being operated by political insiders, where names are submitted for payment and workers only receive only a portion of the funds while the rest is pocketed by gang bosses ,” most concerning to Amen, was the discovery of a senior PNM official's daughter receiving a salary despite currently studying abroad at university. Ameen stated the lead-up to the April 28 general election was a“feeding frenzy within URP, with overspending and over-hiring of PNM party associates.”

From what I've been hearing and seeing since my early childhood, it appears that there will be everlasting corruption in T&T! Corruption in T&T is like a carousel that is constantly revolving. Robert Matas in the Canadian newspaper, Globe and Mail (04/07/1986) published the article: 'Kickback schemes brought wealth-Trinidadian a master of corruption,' was only the tip of the iceberg.

The post Bobol is corruption! Corruption is crime in Trinidad and Tobago appeared first on Caribbean News Global .

MENAFN24092025000232011072ID1110107107