EDITORIAL - Political contamination of Manatt enquiry

 It is ironic that the Manatt-Coke commission of enquiry - which was demanded by civil society on the suspicion that politics had contaminated the handling of the Christopher Coke extradition request - is being hijacked by the political tribes.

The society was incensed when Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the House of Representatives last year that, as leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), he had sanctioned the party's engagement of the American law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to lobby the United States government to take a more cooperative approach to their request to extradite Christopher Coke.

But, alas, the Manatt-Coke enquiry now has the political monkey riding its back. Supporters of the governing and opposition parties - including Cabinet ministers and members of parliament - are frequently in attendance at the commission's sittings. Both party's secretariats and/or affiliates have been issuing press releases commenting on the commission. Indeed, the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) has been holding frequent post-commission press briefings.

Beyond the party divide

While the Opposition must be commended for its role in Parliament of keeping the Coke extradition matter under scrutiny, particularly the Government's missteps in the engagement of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, the issue goes beyond the party divide. Jamaicans of all stripes, at home and abroad, felt betrayed and belittled by the governing party's seeming reluctance or incapability to apply the law to one of its own - Coke - and the extent to which it was prepared to go in his defence. Civil society began to fear that the tail was wagging the dog and that, perhaps, the Jamaican State was finally in bed with alleged criminal elements.

So the stakes were high during the protracted Coke extradition affair: the concerns were national, not partisan. Hence this newspaper's constant counsel to the PNP, during the period, that this was not a time to gloat or to seize political opportunism.

To date, the most vulgar attempt at political contamination of the quasi-judicial process at the commission of enquiry is Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne's outburst - her apology duly noted - about the "Every Labourite fi dead" statement allegedly made by PNP lawyer K.D. Knight three decades ago.

Stop the politicking

Is it too much to ask the PNP and JLP to desist from politicising the commission of enquiry and to prevent it from descending into a 'tracing' match?

The tribal behaviour of our politicians is even more troubling when one considers there is a raft of constitutional reform issues that need to be put to the people for their decision by way of one or more referenda. If the political tribes can't restrain themselves at the level of a commission of enquiry, there is little hope that our political leaders will be able to oversee a national referendum on important issues that rise above partisan politics.

It is no wonder that we have not yet been able to resolve the replacement of the United Kingdom-based Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice. This requires a referendum, but based on their reactions to the Manatt-Coke enquiry, there is the real fear the political tribes will colour the plebiscite - and not with black, green and gold.

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