On April 13 Diamond Estate resident Cornelius John, was accosted by 3 individuals, who held him at gunpoint and eventually shot him in the leg. Going to the police that very night, John identified the shooters as the ULP’s own Senator Ashelle Morgan, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly and Karim Nelson, the Assistant Director of Public Prosecution and a third person who is yet to be identified.
The matter is currently being investigated but there are some major problems that Vincentians deserve to have addressed.
Firstly, both Morgan and Nelson should stand aside until such a time that a genuinely independent investigation is conducted. In any other country with a Westminster system, this would be expected. A Deputy Speaker of your House of Assembly and an official from your Government, should not be embroiled in these issues. Keeping them there undermines our system of governance.
Secondly, we cannot have “one rule for us, one rule for them” that we have all seen from this Government.
Speaking on radio this week, the Gonsalves said he couldn’t comment on “allegations made by someone in relation to someone else, which is the subject of police investigation.”
Worryingly, he didn’t stop there, also saying: “Why do you take the allegations of one person as being the truth? And people running with is and talking with it- about as though it’s the unvarnished truth and the unvarnished facts. I hope for their sake they don’t run into problems with laws of defamation.”
He has used this threat of defamation before to silence critics of his government and those who bravely speak truth to power.
If he does genuinely care about the safe carriage of justice, he need not of said any more than “this is the subject of a police investigation.”
The most worrying part of the whole affair is that Gonsalves is Minister for Legal Affairs, where he has now inserted himself into a legal matter, which our constitution, and all free-thinking Vincentians say should be independent. Before an investigation has even commenced, he has cast doubt on one of the parties, namely, Mr. John, who as an ordinary citizen, hasn’t had the right of reply. He is attempting to silence all those who dare to speak up.
Well, I say, no more.
Gonsalves told listeners the DPP would “work properly and independently in the highest traditions in this matter.” We’ve heard these throwaway lines before and know what Gonsalves actually does. He’s prepared to do anything to keep himself and his family at the centre of power. And he will ignore the highest laws of our lands to do so.
He cannot be allowed to bully our people into submission any longer.
Our system must see that every Vincentian is treated equally before the law and it should not matter if you are friends with Ralph Gonsalves or not.