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LAMBERT BROWN, Guest Columnist
THE RECENT comment by Alston Stewart "... Shut your damn mouth!" is not only a reflection of the Animal Farm arrogance of our leaders but most unbecoming of a public servant. Then again as offensive as the comment was, too many of us have already shut our 'damn mouths' in respect to the deplorable management of our nation's affairs. Some of you have done it out of fear and to some extent this is understandable. Some even say didn't we all see what happened to 'Barry G' after he dared to interview former Opposition leader on Mr. Stewart's radio station? Mouth shut from those mikes, indeed.
As a nation, it is time for us to stop being cowards and respond by opening our 'damn mouths' and be counted as patriots defending proper governance of our country's affair. We have to start paying much closer attention to public policy issues. We have to stop fooling ourselves that we 'nuh business' with politics or political issues. The truth is that whether you want to believe it or not, political issues affect your daily life. The majority of registered voters in Portmore refused to participate in the last general election. They simply didn't vote because they were not interested in politics. Yet political decisions are today adversely affecting their very life. The toll road is but only one such example.
FIELD DAY FOR 'CONTRACTORS'
Like the non-voters of Portmore, almost half of the Jamaican voting population has turned its back on the political system. This leaves a field day for the many 'contractors' and 'dons' to take charge. Indeed, we get the government and 'chairmen' we deserve. Since it is said that cowards die many times before their deaths, we are doomed as long as we remain in this state of political apathy.
Right now in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, there is a raging debate going on about the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Yet, if you do a national survey, I am sure the majority of Jamaicans will tell you that they are not interested in the debate. In fact, they will tell you that the court will not affect them because they are neither rich nor murderers and therefore have no need for the court.
In reality, most of us have shut our 'damn mouths' in respect to the Caribbean Court of Justice or as some one said to me
recently the "court of Caribbean justice."
THE WRONG NAME
We don't choose our own names, yet, having the wrong name could land you in jail for days, more so with the blessing of a Jamaican/ Caribbean judge too. This is exactly what happened in February to a man named Courtney Smith in Clarendon. Another person with the same name apparently failed to pay a traffic fine and because both of them had the same name Courtney Smith was arrested and spent time in jail despite his protestations that he was not the guilty man. This could happen to you or me. This could also
happen to the pastor, doctor, teacher or Indian chief as well. Just take a peep into the telephone directory and you will see the duplication of names and even same
initials. For example, there are thirty-four Jacqueline Browns mentioned therein.
It is interesting to note that our Jamaican judge was quick to confine the innocent Mr. Smith to the filthy and inhumane jail cell, in a sense, causing him to shut his damn mouth, after all he was now a prisoner of the state.
On the other hand, a different approach was adopted by the Privy Council, in a case involving a man name Rajesh Ramsarran in Trinidad who was incorrectly arrested. The man was imprisoned for four days on the grounds that he had failed to pay a fine, which in fact he had already paid. There unlike the Jamaican judge, the Privy Council made allowance for the possibility of 'mistaken identity' or an error by the people to whom citizens paid fines. Think about it. What happened to that Trinidad man who as the Privy Council said "had a very unhappy experience at the hands of the Trinidad authorities" could happen right here in Jamaica to you or a member of your family. Luckily, the Privy Council gave victory to the poor man in Trinidad. They overturned the ruling of the Trinidad Supreme Court, as well as that of the Court of Appeal, which had previously ruled in favour of the Trinidad Government on the particular issue in dispute.
Like the three Flour Mills workers who won their case at the Privy Council, Mr Ramsarran in Trinidad is happy today. Not so Mr. Courtney Smith and his family in Clarendon. You see, no Chairman can tell the Privy Council to 'shut their damn mouth'. In Belize, one of the Caribbean Court's potential members, a judge of the Supreme Court, was removed from the bench based on serious allegations that "he used his office corruptly for private gain and allowed his integrity to be called in question". In Trinidad, the current chief justice is facing damaging allegations concerning his fitness to remain a judge.
PAY ATTENTION TO THE CCJ DEBATE
I would urge all Jamaicans to pay keen attention to matters relating to the CCJ debate as you may sadly discover only when it is too late, that you became a victim of political expediency and nationalistic emotions. As you pay attention to the debate, you should ask the Government when will they compensate Mr. Smith and others like him, for the wrongs done by the agents of the state. You should ask the government how would the Caribbean court have made life better for the youths so callously murdered at Green Bay, or Agana Barrett who so cruelly suffocated in the Constant Spring lock-up, or Michael Gayle so maliciously beaten to death by security forces in Olympic Gardens.
Whether we like it or not, one day we may become an innocent victim of the state's injustice too. Before it is too late, we all need wake from our slumber, open our 'damn mouths', make a mighty noise and shake down the walls of injustice. What we need is a court from which our people can obtain justice, not one whose mouth may one day be damned and shut up.
Lambert Brown is First Vice President of the University and Allied Workers Union and can be contacted at labpoyh@yahoo.com.
