Trafigura

According to a recent BBC radio report, BBC Newsnight has uncovered evidence revealing that Dutch oil trading company Trafigura knew that waste dumped in the Ivory Coast in 2006, was hazardous. Trafigura had persistently denied that the waste was harmful but internal e-mails show staff knew it was hazardous, the report went on to say. (my emphasis)

Further, the reports stated that “On Wednesday, Newsnight learned that Trafigura has offered to pay damages to settle a class action brought on behalf of 31,000 who said they were injured. The news of the settlement came as a UN report on claims that people had fallen sick or died as a result of the dump was published.

The report also said there is "strong prima facie evidence that the reported deaths and adverse health consequences are related to the dumping of the waste from the cargo ship".

These latest developments are especially important to us in Jamaica for it tells us what kind of company Trafigura really is. What is frightening is that in 2007, they gave $30 million to the People’s National Party (PNP) government in Jamaica as a campaign contribution, but up to now, no one will tell the public what the party promised them in return or rather why Trafigura was so intent on having the PNP returned to power.

Without any reasonable explanation and in light of these latest developments, one can’t but conclude that Trafigura was searching for another country in which to dump its toxic waste and they thought the PNP would be inclined to oblige them

What a frightening thought, not the thought that PNP would sell out the Jamaican people, for they have done that many times during their 18 years of governance. The terrifying thought is that had they been returned to power in the 2007 elections, the lives and health of thousands of Jamaicans would have been put at risk.

In my book too, the actions by Trafigura are born out of raw racism for in certain parts of the developed would, they have long entertained the attitude that it is always ok to dump their garbage, hazardous or not, on the black people of the world. And don’t forget that history has shown us time and time again, that there are always black people ready to cooperate (for money of course) with other races in the selling out of their own people.