MOWT

The death penalty has re-surfaced as a topic of national discussion due to a recent comment by the Hon. Minister of Works and Transport, who was Ag. Prime Minister at the time.

While we await the results of the Attorney General's and Integrity Commission's review of the Hon. Minister Jack Warner's holding of his FIFA and Ministerial roles, I wish to re-focus on Hon. Min. Warner's recent statement that the FIFA roles are unpaid.

FIFA's Annual Financial Report 2009 is available on their website (http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/01/18/31/86/...).

These are the three pillars I've seen so far on the issue of whether the new Minister of Works and Transport, Mr Jack Warner, should resign his FIFA Vice-President and CONCACAF President roles: (1) his availability, (2) laws/rules governing Ministers simultaneously holding executive roles in private companies or associations, and (3) ethics/conflict of interest.  Let's examine each pillar.

Pillar 1: A Minister's Availability

I am glad the new Minister of Works and Transport has decided to defer the rapid rail project.  It gives us the opportunity to explore less costly options for solving the current traffic problems.  I wish to suggest the following to the planners for consideration.

In my experience, the traffic problem has two main root causes: (1) the amount of vehicles (2) the amount of traffic lights and intersections. So if we could tackle those two items, the pain should reduce.

I wish to thank the Hon.