Will Corruption Tarnish PM Barrow’s Legacy?

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow has done the improbable – securing a third term for the United Democratic Party. But now he has to make it through that third term with his Party intact. He stated once before, in a somber moment, that corruption could bring down his government. So what is he saying now?

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“I say again, I cannot sit here and tell you there is no corruption in government, there is no corruption in cabinet. I won’t do it. I believe that while people wah always try a thing, I have done the best I can to keep a lid on things. I have done that not just because if the lid were to fly off completely, it would be the end of the administration, but because I believe—even though I know the demands made on ministers by the electorate, by the constituencies—I believe that there is a way to service those constituencies and to live a decent, personal life without getting into corruption. Corruption is wrong; plain and simple. And I have tried my best. I know that I have not been completely successful, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that most people in this country that are objective know that I have tried my best. They also know that I personally don’t get involved ina no kinda mix up. Yo can’t find me with no Mason cause I noh go dah nobody house. As I told my cabinet, if all of them were like me it would be an extremely boring world. And I think one of them had the bad grace to expressly say indeed, but anyway. I noh ina dehn kinda mix up; I try to walk the straight and narrow, I try to lead by example and if I can get out of this in a way that has most people accepting that I did my best. And as well I do feel there are multiple concrete achievements of this administration, but coming back to me and this question of legacy, it is not something that I get into. Legacy dah fi when yo dead and I noh know how it can matter to you if yo dead. But since it is the political question of the moment, if I can come out of this at the end of 2019—I mi say the beginning of 2020; it look like I di bring forward this retirement date every time we talk—but anyway. If I can come out of this with my head held high, to use that trite phrase, even if it is a little bloody—if it is bloody but unbought—I will be the happiest man on God’s great earth.”