'Moles' in high places?

During his recent CVM-TV interview, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin (retired commissioner of police and former chief of staff of the Jamaica Defence Force), suggested that person(s) leaked critical/sensitive information to Christopher Coke.

He did not finger the minister of national security; he said that soon after the information regarding the extradition request for Christopher Coke was passed to the minister, it was leaked to Coke. Naturally, Minister Nelson took great umbrage to the suggestion that Coke's influence reached deep within the administration and rapidly responded by viciously attacking the rear admiral.

The minister had to respond because, at worst, people may have chosen to impugn him and, at the very least, Hardley's utterances indicts unnamed trusted civil servants. However, several things about the situation deflect the minister's well-aimed, high-velocity shards. Hardley has stated that he has no political aspirations, so attributing his remarks to "rearguard action to achieve what the People's National Party's censure motion in Parliament failed to do" is unfounded. And, it was absolutely and manifestly unfair for the minister to blame Hardley for the failure to reduce crime, during his tenure as the commissioner of police. Crime is multifactorial; it is dependent on political will, social equity, education, economics, culture and - least of all - effective policing.

The "abject failure" (Minister Nelson's words) to control crime must be viewed with all of the above in mind. Effective policing is only required when the rest have fallen short. It is the last resort, but we made it our weapon of choice for fighting crime ... that is why we have been failing miserably.

Temporary lid on crime

The current localised states of emergency only put a temporary lid on crime. However, the pressure will build and, sooner or later, crime will once again explode, perhaps with a vengeance. We must hurriedly use this little reprieve to inundate underprivileged communities with long-term social programmes in order to empower those that were acculturated into dependency (on the dons or politicians or the Government). We must also ferret out the corrupt within the system and get rid of them, no matter how high up the totem pole they exist ... this is why Hardley's comments should not be dismissed as vengeful mischief or kerfuffle.

The allegations by the former police commissioner may gain some traction especially because of the recent shenanigans surrounding the extradition debacle. The prime minister denied any knowledge of any effort to lobby the United States on extradition matters even though, as the Jamaica Labour Party leader, he sanctioned it. He put his political career and our country at risk for this one case. The solicitor general denied having knowledge of the middleman in the arrangement and credits their encounter to happenstance. The attorney general sited a breach of procedure in transferring the wiretap evidence to the Americans, but suddenly relented when the prime minister confessed his involvement and apologised. And, copies of the extradition papers were found in Mr Coke's Tivoli office. Obviously, in spite of all that transpired, nebulosity abounds - we haven't heard everything as yet.

What if Hardley did not speak with the "maliciousness of a bitter and revengeful man"? What if he is just sick and tired of the deleterious effects of deceit and politics on our country? Instead of seeking to silence the ex-commissioner with the Official Secrets Act (that, in 2006, the JLP wanted abolished), this administration should try to find out if someone breached it and tipped off Mr Coke. Perhaps we'll never know who did it, unless Mr Coke cops a deal and reveals all.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Feedback may be sent to garthrattray@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com