3 Jul 2007

Monkey Island Justice - part deux

Remember those pictures with the three monkeys, one covering ears, one the eyes, one the mouth? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.


Justice in Trinidad is like that. Blind (unable to see the stupidities that abound everyday), deaf (unable to hear the complaints and protests) and dumb (unable to speak up for what is right).

Shermie not suspended, despite several reports damning him on multiple fronts. Espinet not recusing herself from hearing Panday's matter, despite hearing another matter Panday is involved in. I know for a fact human nature being what it is, the goodly magistrate will not be able to separate evidence heard in one trial from the other, and therefore will be applying same to the other trial. On that basis alone, the prosecution should not have to ask the magistrate to recuse herself but she should voluntarily do so.

But Trinidad being what it is...

Bad eggs in the duncey service... oops, I mean Police Service.
Imagine 7,000 police officers and less than 5,000 arrests in one year. That is less than one arrest per officer per year. No wonder we have a crime problem. Moreover, the problem is not a crime problem, it is a detection problem.
A good place to start cleaning up the corruption and incompetence is by having civilians run the Police Complaints Authority. The bottom line is that "the police" simply cannot be trusted to investigate "the police."
Poor health service, made poorer when a former mayor can take home expensive equipment from the hospital without permission for personal use.

Landate affair, NH affair, airport inquiry, Sharma inquiry... my head spinning from all the dead ends I see daily.

Monkey Island Justice in truth.