The Days of Our Lies

Lambert Brown, Contributor

The chorus to our national anthem declares, "Justice, truth be ours forever". Our founding fathers wanted us always to be guided by the search for truth over lies. Truth is the foundation of integrity. Without integrity, a nation will descend into anarchy. Immorality, dishonesty, lawlessness, corruption, and evil become the standards by which a nation which turns its back on truth will be measured. This is a fate no decent Jamaican wants to bequeath to future generations of our children, born or yet unborn. It is for these reasons that despite the soap opera nature of the present commission of enquiry sitting at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, it is deserving of the nation's attention.

Those media organisations that are spending time and resources to enlighten our citizens on the daily developments must be commended. Each citizen is, therefore, able to become a member of the jury and come to his or her own verdict as to what really went wrong with the request for the extradition of the man described by a reputed criminal as the "don of all dons".

Nine months of vacillation

The evidence so far is that the United States government requested that Jamaica extradite to stand trial a member of the prime minister's constituency on gunrunning and drug-trafficking charges. Imported illegal guns are the weapon of choice that has snuffed out the lives of too many of our citizens. The Jamaican security forces were alerted and ready to arrest the 'don of all dons'. The Government of Jamaica decided to procrastinate instead of honour the request. After a period of much volatility and vacillation lasting nine long months, the prime minister announced that his minister of justice would sign the warrant for the arrest of the fugitive, Christopher Coke. Not a single punctuation mark, word, sentence, or paragraph was changed from the document which the minister of justice refused to sign in August 2009, but which she finally signed in May 2010.

How could the minister have signed nine months after, but not before? The answer to that question requires the unravelling of fabric shrouded in downright lies and half-truths.

The country was led by Prime Minister Golding to believe that the American government was "stonewalling" our Government and creating a "stalemate" in the relationship between the two states. For that reason, Prime Minister Golding sanctioned the engagement of the US law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP) in September 2009. An initial retainer of US$50,000 was paid to MPP. Now, the solicitor general of Jamaica, Mr Douglas Leys, tells the nation that there was no stalemate or stonewalling by the US government at the time when the prime minister sanctioned the deal with MPP. Who will we believe on this - the prime minister or Mr Leys?

Mr Leys now also tells the nation, through the commission of enquiry, that he met lawyers of MPP for the first time on December 16, 2009, in Washington, DC. On that day, he had two engagements with people from the firm. The following day, a representative of the firm attended a high-level meeting between the Government of Jamaica and the US government at the Department of Justice.

The US government knew that the said lawyer was representing the Government of Jamaica. That lawyer, Mr Kevin Di Gregory, registered on December 10, 2009 - seven days before the meeting - with the Justice Department as representing the Government of Jamaica. Mr Leys tells the commissioners that this lawyer was only an observer, not a representative of the Government of Jamaica. You be the judge.

Surprisingly, Mr Leys, in a radio interview with me on March 23, 2010, said he met the representatives of the firm for the first time on the very day of the meeting in Washington and allowed the lawyer to attend the Department of Justice high-level meeting. That, he told me, was his last meeting with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Was that true? It does not appear so. Mr Leys went back to the offices of MPP that evening after the Justice Department meeting. He spoke with another MPP lawyer, Susan Schmidt, who was not at the Department of Justice meeting. Surprise, surprise! Ms Schmidt offered to draft a press release of a meeting that she did not attend. From where would she get her facts? That is still an unanswered question. Maybe the email trail showing the connection between the law firm MPP, Mr Harold Brady, and lawyers, including Mr Leys, from the attorney general's office will help to unravel the truth.

Contradictions

Justice Minister Dorothy Lighbourne has had her statement submitted to the enquiry contradicted by several witnesses so far. This enquiry is bad news for her. So, too, many believe it is not looking pretty for Mr Leys.

The country awaits the testimony of the Honourable Bruce Golding. Up against the erudite cross-examiners K.D. Knight, QC, and Patrick Atkinson, QC, a battle royal looms. The survival of the Government is at stake.

It is no wonder that at least 14 of Jamaica's queen's counsels are involved in this case. Never before have so many of Jamaica's top lawyers been engaged in a single matter in our judicial system.

As citizens, we have a responsibility to pay attention to this enquiry and make sure that JUSTICE and TRUTH dominate the restrictive 'rules of evidence' which, on several occasions, have resulted in the culprits remaining unpunished. So I hope these days of our lies will be short-lived and truth will be extolled.

Lambert Brown is president of the University and Allied Workers' Union and can be contacted at Labpoyh@yahoo.com. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.