Our Government is not compromised

02.MAR.07

Editor: For a while there we were led to believe that our Government was compromised. The opponents of the Government would have us believe that blackmail was used to force the Mercy Committee to release from prison a man, convicted of drug possession, some three months before his two-year sentence was supposed to end.

We were falsely led to believe that this “drug man” had contributed significant sums to the ULP Government and had blackmailed the Prime Minister into his “early” (or was it “belated”?) release.{{more}}

When the Prime Minister proffered “national security” considerations as the reason for the release, there was some concern. Could this man or his agents really threaten the Prime Minister? What about the upstanding members of the Mercy Committee who sanctioned this release, how could they live with themselves?

However, commonsense, which seemed to have eluded quite a few of our learned gentlemen, quickly told me that releasing a prisoner three months before the end of his two-year sentence could not be meeting the blackmail demands of a drug lord. What drug lord would demand a mere three months out of a two-year sentence?

I was relieved to finally hear the PM, explain in a nutshell, that the prisoner was given a three-months reprieve or reward for informing our law enforcers about serious national security matters, including murders, murder plots, compromised prison wardens and the location of dangerous weapons.

What was strange was that learned men and women of the opposition, for political reasons, did not regard these dangerous liaisons and the existence of these weapons in and around the town as serious national security issues.

It was however clear that although Frederick’s letter, written on behalf of HER client, did not expressly request the early or belated release of the prisoner; its significant contents were obviously regarded by law enforcement as a tacit request for something in exchange.

It is also widely felt that Frederick, who was clearly placed in an embarrassing situation by her party, ought not to have been surprised at the three-month reprieve given to her client, given the contents of her letter.

So we must thank Arnhim for forcing the PM to finally revealing the details of the case and thereby providing us with the evidence that our Government is not compromised on this issue.

MISC