After the recent disasters of the American financial system, especially after revelations that Bernie Madoff had bilked investors of an estimated $65 billion, many people thought that they had seen the bottom, and that from now on it could not get worse. But more and more evidence is trickling out that they have not seen the end yet.

Right on the heels of the Bernie Madoff revelations came the discovery that Texan financier R. Allen Stanford also ran a Ponzi scheme in which he defrauded people of $7 billion. Stanford ran this Ponzi scheme from the Caribbean island of Antigua. In order to pass laws favorable to his illegal practices and to gain influence in the US congress, Stanford helped create something called the Caribbean Congressional Caucus. Stanford paid for members of this Caribbean Congressional Caucus to take several trips to vacation in the Caribbean. One of these politicians is Rep. Donald Payne. The Office of Congressional Ethics is now investigating Congressman Donald Payne and his colleagues in the Caribbean Congressional Caucus for essentially taking bribes in the form of all expense paid trips to the Caribbean.

One could say all of this is local US politics. What does it have to do with us in Somaliland? Well, it turns out that one of the people being investigated for ethical violations, Congressman Donald Payne, has a habit for lecturing Africans about the evils of corruption and the benefits of good governance. So he is preaching one thing to Africans and doing the opposite himself, which makes him a hypocrite.

Even without the revelations about his involvement in taking bribes in the form of free vacations, Congressman Payne is not in a position to question any foreign government about corruption or bad governance. If he is really interested in such matters, he should turn his attention to a place where it is sorely needed:  New Jersey, his own state.

New Jersey has produced such very corrupt politicians as Gov. Jim McGreevey who left office in a gay scandal. It has also produced Sen. Robert G. Torricelli who was involved in financial dealings with an imprisoned Korean businessman.

Only this week, 44 people were arrested including 2 mayors, religious leaders and elected officials for money laundering, taking bribes, selling counterfeit goods, trafficking in human organs and other forms of corruption.

The Daily Mail wrote: “'New Jersey's corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation,' said Ed Kahrer, who heads the FBI's white-collar and public corruption division.

'Corruption is a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state.'

Governor Jon Corzine said: The scale of corruption we're seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated.'”

Some draw similarities between New Jersey and the southern, and also very corrupt state of Louisiana, by calling New Jersey "Louisiana North." Newark, the city which Congressman Donald Payne represents, is one of the cities with the highest crime rate in America.

If Donald Payne had any leadership qualities or strength of character, he would have been able to show his constituents the way out of crime and poverty. But he has neither leadership nor character. And the free trips to the Caribbean have exposed him for what he really is: just another corrupt and hypocritical New Jersey politician who is no position to lecture Africans and Somalilanders about nothing.

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