Rear Admirable

The Admiral lied! There is no way that the hyper pigmented Security Minister Dwight Nelson could have turned pale on being advised about the impending extradition request for Michael Christopher “Dudus” Coke. However, that is where my incredulity ends. I have yet to prove Hardley Lewin a liar but there are countless reasons to question the veracity of anything the little men in green say. After all the truth seems so alien to them they could very well be from Mars.

Extradition request

Here are facts. The American authorities made the request in August 2009. Before the government or Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), (and even the Prime Minister/Party leader doesn’t know them different) could respond, the shadiness began. From Venus, the lady Attorney General/Minister of Justice should have responded. Nothing came from the lady planet. In two shakes of a duck’s tale, attorneys Manatt, Phelps and Phillips were contracted. By September 18 they somehow got the impression, all by their learned selves, that they were being engaged by the government of Jamaica and not the JLP. Oh,the diplomatic note was sent from Mars to the US seeking additional information.

Speaking in Strange Languages

Of course, Prime Minister Golding had declared almost four years earlier, as he chided the Peoples’ National Party (PNP) over the despicable Trafigura matter, that the Government and ruling party have no separate identity. So then, the JLP and the government should have been speaking the same Martian right? Well, Lady Venus was not speaking and the generally unintelligible “communications” minister was clearly speaking another language. In declaring that the government had no relationship with the law firm Minister Vaz was accused by Jamaican attorney and firm backer of the JLP, Harold Brady of either being “daft or needs to have his head examined!” Clearly Brady knew something which Vaz should have but maybe one was speaking the language of Venus and the other, the language of Uranus.

Unmoved but Fishy

Public pressure grew and there were calls to have the courts determine if Coke should be sent. But the Driver kept course and the Minister of Justice refused to be rocked or swayed. Indeed, her objection to signing the order for the export of Coke seemed perfectly logical. Solicitor General’s advice was that she shouldn’t because the evidence was tainted due to Constable X doing, what Lewin later revealed to be perfectly lawful. Note, Lewin was Constable X’s (now re-named “Red Herring”) ultimate senior officer. Well named, because by the second paragraph of this column it was obvious that something was fishy.

Legally Sound but Swayed

Given what was public knowledge, I supported Justice Minister Lightbourne from a legal standpoint, because the only way in which she could have sent the matter for the courts to determine, was if she already declared that he should be extradited and thus signed it. Then, appropriately in the week leading up to “Labour Day” she signed. No new legal information was presented up to today. Yet in the Senate she declared that she was influenced by public sentiments "It was clear that the public- interest concerns had become paramount and compelling and that this required exercising my discretion so as to at least diminish and/or allay those concerns," What???!!! So all the legal arguments went out the window! So much for the unflappable Attorney General, who operates only on legal facts.

A weak apology but limited disclosure, left us feeling “dissed” with no closure. Thus, Driver re-started the vehicle, declared a state of emergency and continued his journey. Now, 73 civilians, two policemen, a prominent upper-St Andrew resident and a soldier later, it was all for naught.

Conspiracy?

In an interesting about-face, there is a declaration of war on criminality and commerce minister, Karl Sam(fie)Muda, who conspired with the Prime Minister and other Labourites to mislead the people, is attempting along with Driver and the eloquent Vaz, to wear halos. So mek mi ask dem, “What is the new information which led the JLP/government to sign the order? Unoo nah tell we how, Manatt dem get the impression dat dem did a deal wid the government? Who lied? Mantt et al, Brady or Vaz?”

Perversion of Intelligence

Something insidious and reprehensible took place in the entire affair as it looks that somebody, who sought to prevent Coke being sent to the United States (US), was perverting not only the course of justice but the entire system of common morals and most of all, my intelligence.

Ironically, a driver, who is daft and needs to have his head examined, was arrested while trying to do exactly what the JLP/government was trying to avoid for an entire year: send Coke to the US. Yet these hypocrites without moral rectitude, refused to ask him to step aside. Did you know that under the Public Service Regulations 1961, public officers are typically interdicted on partial pay while facing criminal charges? Never in my 30 years of public service have I seen any variation of this. But then again, no government has ever compromised itself as much in defence of an area don.

Gag order

More than 70 persons died in vain and the government hints at lawsuits against Lewin? Citing the Official Secrets Acts, which must be guiding the JLP, Nelson is seeking to gag the admiral. Like Monica who could end up being their Lewin-sky, he refused to keep his mouth shut. Lewin said Tivoli was the “Mother of all Garrisons.” Ticky! He had given the crime portfolio to his eventual successor while Commissioner. Thus, any blame for the lack of success was his too. Nelson can speak but he cannot talk, because he was Minister of National Security and much of what Lewin sought and the cops are still clamouring for, was not provided. They were under equipped to take on Tivoli and even Lewin’s former charges, the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) had to “tun han mek fashion”

Full Revelation Please

Attacking the Admiral is not the same as the full revelation that we need in this debacle. Dwight is too bright to make any further mistakes beyond that with the English language as he attacked a “revengeful” Lewin. All of Jamaica knows that the Labourites were behind Coke up to the few days leading to the signing of the order. Does Nelson really think that the lack of proof that the “Presi” was in deep communication with them vindicates them?

I Hardley think so.