Should we take word of a failed coup leader?
The Law Association is in danger of dragging its image in the mud as it battles the Attorney General. However, the Prime Minister should tell the public that Abu Bakr’s affidavit is bogus.
There appears to be a lull of sorts in the hostilities between the Attorney General and the La Association.
One can only hope that this is the case because the spat was becoming a bit too personal: there really is no need for name calling in this little argument about Abu Bakr’s affidavit in which he made damaging allegations against the Prime Minister.
Both parties should stick to the niceties if not the rank obscurantism of legal arguments although at the end of the day the layman might end up totally confused because both sides seem to be right.
The last time the Law Association tangled with the Attorney General they offered a white flag of sorts, inviting him to hold “peace talks”: apparently this did not happen. There was a lot of bad blood under the bridge. Surely, John Jeremie did not take too kindly to the legal profession to which he belongs calling on him to vacate his post.
However, it is going to serve our little democracy no good, given our serious social problems and the hard times (although somebody said that there is no recession) for the Law Association and the AG to be at each other’s throats.
Mr Jeremie is being portrayed as the Government’s hatchet-man: pursuing former Chief Justice Sat Sharma in tandem with the Prime Minister as an irreconciliable bulldog; arguing robustly (the new legal terminology) with a former DPP; assailing a judge in Parliament and, lately, complaining about the conduct of a high ranking legal officer who cost taxpayers a billion dollars.
Lest one forgets this is the same AG who went after the Piarco Airport scam artists, got them jailed and got back the money they defrauded the country.
He is, certainly, the Prime Minister’s man of business. He was recalled to the country from the Court of St James in rather questionable circumstances and before he had settled in his old office at the Cabildo Chambers somebody conveniently leaked the exchange of correspondence between himself and the former DPP to a daily newspaper, paving the way for a swift vote of no confidence by this holier-than-thou Law Association.
The ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) has branded the Law Association as political opportunists and whether or not this is true is another story because the Association never appeared to have a problem with the former lady AG Brigid Annisette-George.
The Law Association will only be dragging its own image into the mud by engaging in open warfare with AG Jeremie and should seek another truce.
At the same time, the Prime Minister should present himself to the national community and clear the air about this affidavit: despite the fact that it was struck down by the Appeal Court and the Privy Council.
The empirical evidence suggests that there are still lingering questions in many people’s minds. Given the role the Muslimeen played in marginal constituencies in the 2002 General Election, which was a secret to nobody, the Prime Minister should tell the national community that the allegations made by the failed coup leader are bogus and untrue.