‘All relevant institutional stakeholders in the criminal justice system must join forces urgently to rescue the criminal justice system and restore public trust. ‘The very fabric of our society is being eroded. Viewed objectively, there can be no greater importance on the national agenda.’ —Justice Mark Mohammed, in the failed murder trial of Keisa Sealey.
It is a sign of desperation that judges now feel compelled to step out of their crease and register their alarm about the continuing decline and disintegration of our society. It is a last-ditch attempt to make a distress call.
Last week, Justice Anthony Carmona pleaded for an urgent review of the URP programme, because it was the cradle of criminal gangs, and had become the root of State-sponsored criminal activity. Interviews with youths who openly confess to receiving URP cheques for no work, as ghost gangs led by gang leaders control lucrative contracts and fight for turf, abound in the media and in the courts during murder trials. Nothing has become of the scandalous expose that even Jennifer Lopez was listed as a URP worker and drawing a salary! In the midst of all of this, PM Manning’s priority is the purchase of a private executive jet at an astronomical cost of $300 million.
Mr Manning does not speak to reporters about the uncontrollable crime situation. Instead, he addresses the rape case against his friend, St Vincent PM Ralph Gonsalves. Manning and Arthur Lok Jak, Vision 2020 Chairman, think that we are all fools. There is no social or economic justification, whatsoever, for the purchase of a private executive jet for the PM of a country with less than two million people riddled with violent crime and lacking basic necessities.
If this was a viable economic enterprise, rest assured Lok Jack would have been buying the jet to lease to Manning himself. Is Manning’s time really so precious that he cannot afford to wait in the airport? Can his protocol officer not liaise with the VIP lounge to ensure the PM is the last to arrive and board when the aircraft is ready to leave, so his time is managed?
As for Colm Imbert trying to deflect all questions to the board of Air Caribbean, rest assured we are not all dimwits; everyone knows Air Caribbean is simply dancing to the Government’s beat on this one. The board and management of Air Caribbean have a duty to act in the best interests of the company, and the level of care, diligence and skill must meet objective standards, or else the risk of personal liability of directors arises. I find it impossible to believe there is no dissent from any director on this issue! It is a vulgar and obscene, abuse and waste of public funds and not a “beep?” It seems as if we’re back to the good ole days of “not a damn dog bark”!
The outrage of citizens is evidenced by the avalanche of letters to the editor. Why not an air ambulance in light of our developed oil and gas industry, where injured people frequently need to be airlifted? Why not more beds and dialysis machines for San Fernando General Hospital? Why not subsidise food prices, instead of advising us to eat yam and cassava? Why not remove VAT on basic necessities?
While murderers continue to walk free because our criminal justice system is malfunctioning, as people are too terrified to testify and the delivery of justice is too slow, Manning wants to fly in style. This exaggerated sense of self-importance is difficult to reconcile with the tenets of Christianity, and he clearly needs to be “born again.”
He is distancing himself further away from the problems of the masses, and the political neophytes he has chosen to surround him all seem to worship him. Such megalomania is to be expected in a small-time banana republic, where we seem to think the world revolves around T&T.
All hail Manning, President of the Caribbean!
By Anand Ramlogan 2008-03-09