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EDITORIAL - Don't sanitise Dudus
Published: Tuesday | June 29, 2010
This newspaper makes no judgement about the decision of the police to charge the Rev Al Miller for allegedly harbouring a criminal and perverting the course of justice in relation to reputed crime boss Christopher Coke, who was discovered in the pastor's vehicle a week ago.
Rev Miller says he was merely transporting the then fugitive, Mr Coke, to the United States embassy in St Andrew and facilitating his intended surrender to American authorities for extradition to the United States to answer narcotics and gun-smuggling charges.
The police complain that they had not been informed of Rev Miller's plans and were concerned that he seemed intent on bypassing domestic law when he would have known that a warrant was out for Mr Coke's arrest.
Clearly, the matter of Rev Miller's innocence or guilt will be determined by the courts, which are competent to determine whether he broke the law, and what was his intent and/or state of mind during the affair.
Sanitising Coke
Our concern, however, is that some of Rev Miller's recent remarks, unwittingly or otherwise, appear intent on sanitising Christopher Coke.
It is not Mr Coke's fault that for nine months the Jamaican Government, on seemingly spurious grounds, stonewalled a US request for his extradition, threatening Jamaica's relations with a close ally. And there is no evidence that Mr Coke was party to Prime Minister Bruce Golding's authorisation of the hiring of lobbyists to persuade the Americans to go soft on the extradition issue.
Mr Coke, however, was a powerful and influential figure in west Kingston who, if he did not directly order them, would have been aware of the plans to barricade Tivoli Gardens to prevent his arrest by the security forces. He could not plead ignorance of the shooting at and burning of police stations in west Kingston and the killing of police officers elsewhere in the city before the incursion of security forces into Tivoli Gardens.
Yet, he chose neither to intervene nor surrender. He bolted from Tivoli Gardens and went on the run during the fighting that left over 70 people dead.
End gang violence
Now, Rev Miller says that Mr Coke wanted to surrender to end gang violence and garrison politics, which have been an unfortunate feature of Jamaica's political culture for too long and from which the Coke family benefited.
"Hence, his surrender is his desire to continue to help to bring it to an end."
What is not clear is when Christopher Coke had his epiphany and therefore started the effort, which is now his desire "to continue" to end gangsterism and garrison politics. On the face of it, none of this occurred prior to the volte-face of Prime Minister Golding when, in the face of public pressure, he acquiesced to the extradition request.
Until Rev Miller provides further and better particulars, we insist that there is absolutely no evidence that Mr Coke would have willingly released his presumed stranglehold on west Kingston and go quietly to the United States. That he eventually surrendered, or was captured, was the consequence of being overcome by events.
We insist on this context, for a whitewash is to manufacture the image of a perceptive and transformational hero at the expense of truth, without which there will be little change.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
Published: Tuesday | June 29, 2010
This newspaper makes no judgement about the decision of the police to charge the Rev Al Miller for allegedly harbouring a criminal and perverting the course of justice in relation to reputed crime boss Christopher Coke, who was discovered in the pastor's vehicle a week ago.
Rev Miller says he was merely transporting the then fugitive, Mr Coke, to the United States embassy in St Andrew and facilitating his intended surrender to American authorities for extradition to the United States to answer narcotics and gun-smuggling charges.
The police complain that they had not been informed of Rev Miller's plans and were concerned that he seemed intent on bypassing domestic law when he would have known that a warrant was out for Mr Coke's arrest.
Clearly, the matter of Rev Miller's innocence or guilt will be determined by the courts, which are competent to determine whether he broke the law, and what was his intent and/or state of mind during the affair.
Sanitising Coke
Our concern, however, is that some of Rev Miller's recent remarks, unwittingly or otherwise, appear intent on sanitising Christopher Coke.
It is not Mr Coke's fault that for nine months the Jamaican Government, on seemingly spurious grounds, stonewalled a US request for his extradition, threatening Jamaica's relations with a close ally. And there is no evidence that Mr Coke was party to Prime Minister Bruce Golding's authorisation of the hiring of lobbyists to persuade the Americans to go soft on the extradition issue.
Mr Coke, however, was a powerful and influential figure in west Kingston who, if he did not directly order them, would have been aware of the plans to barricade Tivoli Gardens to prevent his arrest by the security forces. He could not plead ignorance of the shooting at and burning of police stations in west Kingston and the killing of police officers elsewhere in the city before the incursion of security forces into Tivoli Gardens.
Yet, he chose neither to intervene nor surrender. He bolted from Tivoli Gardens and went on the run during the fighting that left over 70 people dead.
End gang violence
Now, Rev Miller says that Mr Coke wanted to surrender to end gang violence and garrison politics, which have been an unfortunate feature of Jamaica's political culture for too long and from which the Coke family benefited.
"Hence, his surrender is his desire to continue to help to bring it to an end."
What is not clear is when Christopher Coke had his epiphany and therefore started the effort, which is now his desire "to continue" to end gangsterism and garrison politics. On the face of it, none of this occurred prior to the volte-face of Prime Minister Golding when, in the face of public pressure, he acquiesced to the extradition request.
Until Rev Miller provides further and better particulars, we insist that there is absolutely no evidence that Mr Coke would have willingly released his presumed stranglehold on west Kingston and go quietly to the United States. That he eventually surrendered, or was captured, was the consequence of being overcome by events.
We insist on this context, for a whitewash is to manufacture the image of a perceptive and transformational hero at the expense of truth, without which there will be little change.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
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