Manatt is drama and distress Go Ragashanti! Franklin Johnsto

[Sir X]

Manatt is drama and distress
Go Ragashanti!
Franklin Johnston

Friday, March 25, 2011

The Manatt Enquiry is a triumph for Bruce. The issue could have brought the Cabinet down. Instead, it morphed into drama and now all the glitterati are in the best seats. An enquiry is no substitute for trial of politicians in the courts but it may be used as a ploy to pre-empt a future trial. We must keep last year's events alive and not allow politicians to dictate what is legal, illegal or unconstitutional. We saw MPs take seats in the House knowing they were inelegible and it seems the PM, the JLP, Ministers Lightbourne, Robinson, Nelson and others defied our laws and constitution. What happens now? Do we forget the massacre of the 73, the many "disappeared"? What are the DPP and Commissioner Ellington doing? The USA will try Dudus by their law, but what of those who broke our laws to protect him? Who will prosecute them? Last year in the UK ministers were fired by the PM, deselected as MP and arrested. They lost job, office as MP and went to jail - three distinct processes and sanctions. Moshe Katsav, Israel's ex-president, was just imprisoned for seven years. This is the equality under law we need here. Minister Robinson was fired by the PM. Will he be arrested? Are ministers and JLP officials investigated so we can charge them for subverting laws and undermining our security and treaties? Just because we cannot lock up all of them is no reason not to lock up a few. This enquiry showcases the excellent forensic skills and engaging idiosyncracies of our top advocates and exposes the dunces, but it's not the answer to the deception, injustice, pain and bereavement which Tivoli and the nation suffered this past year.

Politicians do not see things as we do. The Manatt Enquiry satisfies JLP and PNP interest in political point-scoring and to distract us from serious issues. What must we do to ensure politicians face the courts as do regular citizens? Will the AG indict herself, her party leader, MPs and her party? Is it not time for civil society, rights groups and the diaspora to ask the International Criminal Court to help? We need the FBI or Scotland Yard to help us investigate high crimes and corrupt acts! All corruption is not about money, as now some undermine our laws, constitution and our democracy. Some 40 years ago Gaddafi liberated his people, now he kills them with "no mercy and no pity". It proves that over time even good men go bad. The 2012 election is time to make changes.

What are DPP LLewellyn and Commissioner Ellington doing?
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For years we agonised over equal justice. We now have one for the rich, another for the poor, and politicians just bypass both! They are above our laws, rules and taxes. They flout the law on disclosure, but are never arrested. They are incorrigible!

The drama being acted out in the Manatt Enquiry is important but it is the soft option. We fell for the politicians' ploy by cheering or jeering the
serve-and-volley game and keeping score. This distraction from affairs of state and production is painful, but it got the column inches and we took our eye off the important things. Let us get back on track! Politicians in the audience are on full pay; should all workers be given time off to attend? Popcorn and "pepper schwims" all round! The enquiry is a sop to defuse our call for change; it's a black hole to swallow our energy and assert the primacy of politics over justice. It feeds the prurience of activists; a soap opera with full cast, script, make-up and costumes. Some players are like Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream - just farce; some are backstabbers as in Julius Caesar. Enjoy the sound and fury, but will it benefit the nation?

What will come of this enquiry? What do you expect? What will we get for our $40m? Will we get laws to expel or jail politicians who break the law or act against the public interest, who seek office knowing they are illegals? Will we get answers? Did anyone order the massacre of the 73? Who? Why was Mr Clarke killed? Where are the "disappeared"? We ape the Westminster system but in reality our politicians "manage" our democracy to their own ends! Mugabe's Zimbabwe is also a democracy!

Do our media and the commentariat desire justice? Why not expose this charade? Why is the third sector, civil society, silent? Last year's stockpile of resentment will undermine our community, unity, production and breed crime into the future! Families won't forget they got no justice; scores are not settled and there is no closure! The poppyshow enquiry does not touch these. We must bring ministers, party officers, MPs before the courts. Who was the mastermind? Who colluded? The willing who did the work? The JCF needs many investigators but who will investigate them?

The FBI investigates even the president, as in the US no one is above the law. We want a proactive DPP, a brain-led, elite police force for major crimes and political crimes and a majority of new MPs in Parliament to change things for the better. Till then, I grieve for my nation!

The Ragashanti issue is the latest to push our ethics button. He breaks new ground as we must encourage all our people to do in their own fields. Why ask people to innovate then hobble them when they do? The state must know to channel innovation to those who use it or appreciate it and protect those who do not. We have a history of JLP governments banning books and silencing people from Marx to Walter Rodney. Bruce, you were there, you know! Bans just pump up desire, push up demand and price for the item. The solution is to classify media products, not ban them. All media - live acts, film, video, song, voice, image and print broadcasts should be classified. The X-rated ( violence, horror, sexually explicit) should be aired in adult venues and after a "watershed" time on TV and radio. In the UK this watershed is 9 pm, the time when kids should be in bed. Why not Ragashanti at midnight? All X-rated material is on the top shelf in shops. Adult CDs, videos, posters, etc, are clearly marked and in a separate section of the shop by law. Some say we should put such things in book form as Jamaicans do not read! We have all the right entities but not the wisdom to manage our affairs! Stay conscious, friend!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK.
franklinjohnston@hotmail.com


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[Sir X]

Search for truth and what else?
Barbara Gloudon

Friday, March 25, 2011



THE TV SCREEN filled up with the all-too familiar images — the women holding cardboard placards with handwritten messages. This time the cry was "Justice for Livity". The newsreader's text avoided such familiarity. It was "Mr Coke". Another member of the famous dynasty had captured the headlines again.

This time, rumour had spread that he was ill. Housed in the Remand Centre on Spanish Town Road, if anything ever happened to him, it would surely be interpreted as something the prison authorities did. After all, his grandfather had died in a prison fire, and his brother is in a holding cell in 'Merica even now. The price for the extradition of the brother — Dudus to one and all — is being paid by all of us even now. If anything were to happen to Livity, Mr Coke to you... expect bangarang.

KNIGHT... he too respected the prime minister
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So the women were out in the street again, with the usual cardboard placards. To ensure that the rest of us got the message, the women pushed right up in the face of the camera, shoving the signs as far up to the lens as they could go. The writing was too pale for the lettering to pop, but the women did not let that stop them. Angry facial expressions and gestures were enough to tell the story as far as they were concerned.

The voice of authority — an official of the Correctional Services — gave the assurance that Mr Coke is all right. Yes — there was a bit of a disturbance at the Remand Centre. Yes — some of the people currently resident there are refusing nourishment. The words "hunger strike" were not used. The women — and us — were assured that the matter was being dealt with.

In the street, the women continued the all-too-familiar ritual, screaming into the cameras, weaving a pattern of colour and confusion. Wigs, weaves and extensions were out in full force. Eyelashes were glued in place. Jewellery flashed in the sunlight. Obesity was ignored. Denim was put to the full test. Pounds were squeezed into places where ounces might have been more prudent. But who cares?

The official assurance that all was well with Livity didn't mean a thing. "We waan know whatta gwaan," the women cried. It doesn't take genius to imagine that shadows of last May were dominant in the minds of the women. The camera pulled back and prepared to leave, while in the long shot, the women — fat and mawga alike — continued to shriek the question of the day: "Whatta gwaan wid Livity?"

We live in a society of contradictions, don't we? One which has me puzzled is the careful courtesy offered in the media to people whose names come into the news in the context of anti-social acts while citizens of more sterling, proven character, do not always get the same honour.
How often do we hear that "the police are searching for Mister Razor Wire who is being sought for reportedly sending a group of honest, hardworking citizens to an early grave". I've yet to know why people of uncertain integrity deserve such respect while others do not. Such fine distinctions do not bother the women in the streets. They know whom they're speaking about and you can add or subtract the "Mister" all you want.

Since the latest events of the women returning to the street in defence of their hero, we've not seen any evidence that there would be any repetition of occurrences known AND SO to the Enquiry: The prime minister took the witness stand again this week. We have been reminded that this is the first time a prime minister has testified in an event of this kind. Mr Golding didn't have to do so and for this, as well as his decision to authorise the enquiry, we're also reminded, he is to be congratulated. We do so unreservedly. His cross-questioning by Mr Knight was highly anticipated with expectations of dramatic outbursts. The gallery of supporters who flocked to the Conference Centre, as portrayed in the televised proceedings, took up their positions resolutely behind the PM whose counsel was ever on guard to see that no disrespect was shown to his client, the leader of the nation. Mr Knight gave his assurance that he would be on his best behaviour. He too respected the prime minister — and said they were on friendly terms. Minor word games aside, the proceedings (up to when we had to leave it) proceeded.

CO-INCIDENCE: On Monday both the church and the world were in deliberations at the Conference Centre, which incidentally must have the most highly polished floors in the entire island, if not the Caribbean. The hallway couldn't be more gleaming, its potted plants more watered and manicured to perfection. While in one area of the Conference Centre, the enquiry wrestled towards finding where truth resided. In another, the Anglicans led an ecumenical quest towards new directions for mission and the urgency of renewal. Who will reach the target first?

STOP: The report of the indecency of a Barbados Immigration officer making a particularly intrusive body search of a Jamaican woman entering that country, must be verified as a matter of urgency. While we're occupied with other things which some might deem more urgent, this one cannot be allowed to go just so. This is no time for wimpy diplomacy. All the talk of regional integration means nothing if things like this happen.

GO: Jamaican artistes, come on, nuh. Time to get up, stand up and contribute to the Japanese relief efforts. Others who have benefited from their generosity in good times are already at work. I hear word here and there that things are being put together, but how soon, how urgently? Let's go, man!

YEH MAN: You see why I check fi Beres Hammond? He's not only a member of the Parent Teachers' Association of Ardenne High where his son is a student, but he is contributing his very valuable talent to further the development of the school. Respect! Other fathers - tek lesson.

gloudonb@yahoo.com


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1HczdH37H

[Sir X]

Dis bredda Is unto something , he gets it ! The Manatt Enquiry satisfies JLP and PNP interest in political point-scoring and to distract us from serious issues. What must we do to ensure politicians face the courts as do regular citizens? Will the AG indict herself, her party leader, MPs and her party? Is it not time for civil society, rights groups and the diaspora to ask the International Criminal Court to help? We need the FBI or Scotland Yard to help us investigate high crimes and corrupt acts! All corruption is not about money, as now some undermine our laws, constitution and our democracy

[Sir X]

Beres too:

YEH MAN: You see why I check fi Beres Hammond? He's not only a member of the Parent Teachers' Association of Ardenne High where his son is a student, but he is contributing his very valuable talent to further the development of the school. Respect! Other fathers - tek lesson.

[Muadib]

Somebody please find the article that Johnston wrote on the Tivoli Massacre where it was discovered that the 25 people killed were innocent civilians and we have footage of 'peculiar' weapons firing technique and were NOTHING came of the 'shock and awe'.... no guns, no arrests, no extradition, no drop in murders.. nudding..

Thanks in advance..

Is dem Vampiyah ah di deadliest.. dem a day-walker.. but dem cyaan escape mi... mi si dem and mi know dem...

[Muadib]

Summaddy ask him how di Finsac Enquiry going.. or di Dutch Investigation..



PJ fren dem nuh have nuh shame..

[Baddaz]

excellent article... he is definitely on point... we need a reform of the system so that politicians can ACTUALLY go to jail when they break laws of the land... MOST DEFINITELY a brain led investigative police division to deal with the white collar crooks and political criminals...

politicians running for office knowing full well that they are not qualified AND the DPP not prosecuting them... the DPP makes a mockery of her office... who will stand up for the people...

[Baddaz]

as to ragashanti, he should be allowed to be on the radio... his program may not be suitable for the daytime slot, i can appreciate an argument to that effect BUT he connects with a wide audience and serves a purpose... what about a late nite time slot...

[Muadib]

Comedy Central to ************...

I must have imagined the last 20 years...

lol !!! Woieee !!

If Brown Man Time can cause such an awakening.. what wi need is White Man Time !!

[Willi]

Unfortunately, this is NOT new. Dudley Thompson was also in violation of the Constitution. He was NOT ordinarily resident in Jamaica for a full year before entering parliament and everybody knew and did nothing.

Even after scrambling in 2007 to rectify their duals as part of an OBVIOUS strategic manouver, the PNP still ended up with 2 duals in parliament. The moral obligation under the law was to publicly alert everyone to what they suspected, not to engage in cheap tactics.

My point is, BOTH parties have been shown up to be shitty here. This is NOT a recent suituation, so the new religious stance by some is not impressive. We have a deeper problem and points scoring wont help...

[Sir X]

Baddaz..are you implying our system serves the politicians , not the people through a constitutional political system ?

hmmmmmm, no sah.Good people are needed to do the right thing in the shitstem.Vote Jlp , a mean Pnp , a mean Rasta party or NDM.