Reinstate Anderson as mayor

PUBLIC OFFICIALS should step aside when serious charges have been laid against them and the case is before the courts, in order to prevent the office from being brought into disrepute, and because the office holder would be distracted by the case and unable to function, optimally. Therefore, it was good that Ivan Anderson stepped aside as chairman of the St Ann Parish Council when he faced charges of fraudulently converting $5 million, the proceeds of a land transaction, to himself. Furthermore, minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister, Robert Montague, stripped him of the title mayor.

The case was tried and he was acquitted on February 1, therefore it is time that he be reinstated. It would be manifestly unjust for someone to make an allegation, which causes the public official embarrassment and loss of office, only for it to be proven untrue and the person is not reinstated to the original position. If the mayor loses his job unfairly, then no public official would be safe.

This matter transcends party lines. Ivan Anderson is a People's National Party Councillor and he was represented by Ernest Smith, renown lawyer in St Ann and a member of parliament for the ruling Jamaica Labour Party. In fact, Anderson's lawyer, from the outset, had maintained the innocence of his client, which is to be expected. As it turned out, the lawyer was speaking the truth and it is, therefore, time to reinstate Anderson to his position of chairman of the St Ann Parish Council.

Lying plaintiff?

There are other issues raised by this court action. If the plaintiff has made a false allegation, what will happen to that person? Additionally, it seems that Anderson is due some compensation from the government for being falsely charged. Not to mention that Minister Montague should do the honourable thing and have Anderson reinstated as mayor with the appropriate publicity.

The present mayor, Vivienne Robb, should step aside and allow Anderson to take up his position. In any case, the person should have been acting as mayor until the case was tried, because a person is innocent until proven guilty. Placing a permanent replacement would give the impression that the person was guilty.

The continued failure to reinstate Ivan Anderson will make it difficult for other persons in the future to resign pending the trial of a case. In fact, it would not be fair to a public official to resign if persons are going to be treated like Anderson was.

Furthermore, the way matters are dealt with in court, makes the principle of resigning, while awaiting a resolution of a court case, difficult. In March and April 2008, I wrote that Kern Spencer should resign. However, my position gets compromised when after three years there is no resolution of the case. A call on a public official to resign after serious charges have been laid ought to be based on reasonable time elapsing for the trial.

It was good that Anderson's court case did not take long to be settled. The other matter that needs to be settled is the matter of reinstating Ivan Anderson as mayor.

PS: A former PNP Cabinet minister who was close to the Phyllis Mitchell case disagreed with my statement that Miss Mitchell should return her salary as MP because she was ousted from Parliament due to an election petition brought by Abe Dabdoub (Foreign Allegiance vs Dual Citizenship, January 2011). Subsequently, when I did a Google search, it stated that she lost her seat based on 'irregularities'. If that is so, then she should not have to repay the salary unless she or her agents had engaged in fraudulent activities.

Rev Devon Dick is Pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com.