Jack Warner is Minister of National Security: Mr. Warner's baggage

Trinidad and Tobago's new Minister of National Security Jack Warner oversees the destruction of a protest site. Minister in the Ministry of National Security Colin Partap stands next to Warner

Disingenuously masked as a reconfiguration of the Cabinet and State boards, this is the firing of John Sandy and Jack Warner's redemption or demise. Warner's baggage deserved closer examination before handing him unrestricted access to private lives and public institutions. In failing to do so the PM's judgment must be questioned.

The biggest concern is that this could be further confirmation that along this Government's path, good governance is overtaken by political survival and personal enrichment. Amongst other things Warner remains associated with unpaid bonuses for the celebrated national football team; untidy accounting for funds provided to the World Cup campaigns; allegations regarding donations meant for Haitian earthquake victims; and more recently the ownership of the FIFA-owned and funded Centre of Excellence.

Concacaf's Center of Excellence

The international media has not forgotten Mr Warner. Apart from Reuters' and the BBC's tongue-in-cheek announcement of Warner's new appointment, last month the UK media referred to Lasana Liburd's news website wired868.com which published documents linking the Warner family in a personal way to the Centre of Excellence. Liburd, the former Express journalist who famously broke the Simpaul Travel/World Cup 2006 ticket scandal over the 2005 Christmas season referred to an $11m mortgage held by two Warner family companies, Renraw and CCAM, and secured by the FIFA-owned property.

Of all the people involved in allegations against Warner, he deserves to have them investigated and his innocence established. At a minimum, both Warner and the PM should have an interest in determining that nothing in Warner's FIFA and personal dealings makes him unsuitable for Cabinet. The public's agony is the fact nothing is happening and Warner, his party and his leader simply press on. The public also has an interest in the details of Warner's relationship and financial dealings with Chuck Blazer, his long-time CONCACAF colleague and a man once described by a Manhattan judge as being "without credibility". These matters, above any other investigation consuming taxpayers' resources, deserve priority.

Unless we answer the Warner allegations, the country would question the lessons of working hard and playing by the rules.