Dominica’s democracy at the crossroads

Former representative Cecil Edgar Rawle.

Within months a commission of inquiry was empanelled, Scotland Yard trained Commander Slater was called in to investigate, and witnesses subpoenaed to testify; all overseen by an impartial Grenadian Judge E.L. St. Bernard. That no trial was pursued to finality does not erase the fact that speedy steps were taken to assure the public that rule of law and due process were in place.

Today, going on two years after the attempted murder on Christmas Day 2010 of retired Judge Glenworth Emmanuel and his wife Greta, we have silence. Mr. Emmanuel was then, as now, involved in a lawsuit with the Prime Minister’s lawyer, Isidore.

Despite a confession by one Denny Shillingford who claimed to have thrown the fire bomb, and the flight of the person accused as the diabolical mastermind who paid him to do so, we have silence. Where is our government? Where is our independent judiciary? What of the attorney general? Are coroners’ inquest still held on island?

Is that silence due to the fact that the alleged mastermind is linked to the Prime Minister? More troubling have been the statements of the government’s legal advisor and know-all, Tony Astaphan, whose public utterances infer that the attempted murder allegation is lacking in credibility and should be closed.

Are we to accept the public utterances of Tony Astaphan as the sum total of how justice is done on Dominica? What macabre value construct have we allowed to metastasize, as some cancerous growth, in our beloved homeland? What has happened to the procedural and institutional framework, born of an independent judiciary and police force, upon which the population can rely?

In the lead up to carnival 2012, it would seem that the torch of liberty, and the quest for truth, resides in the hands of our valiant calypsonians and talk show hosts on WICE Q95.

Are the values of the nation now governed by the Prime Minister’s statement with regard to his eligibility to serve in elected office, “No law or constitution can prevent me from running for election?”

The same Prime Minister could have spared the nation and his reputation much trouble by simply testifying truthfully whether or not he has ever possessed a French Passport as an adult. One cannot be trusted to govern a country where he or she refuses to testify in a case involving eligibility for public office.

In a trial on his eligibility to hold office, the Prime Minister refused to speak in court, Judge Thom allowed him to dodge cross examination, and quashed a subpoena for his travel documents – though she arguably had the inherent power to order him to show his passport.

Her actions have further degraded the public trust in the independence of our judiciary. Her links to Tony Astaphan during her time as Attorney General to his one-time client, the Antiguan government, is weighed in the balance as to her impartiality in judgment.

For a politician to take cover under the constitutional privilege to remain silent and so avoid sel-incrimination, strikes at the right of a citizenry to have transparent leadership. Can one imagine President Obama, who has been accused of being Kenyan born, “taking the fifth” and refusing to answer to questions about his citizenship or possession of a non-US passport? Should our standards on Dominica be any less?

Democracy is about a value system which respects rule of law, accountability to the governed, and transparency in governance. Democracy can only flourish where truth is exalted.

Regrettably, the government’s chief spokesman Philbert Aaron argues that there is no truth in politics. His debased statement has brought no rebuke by the government, which can only mean that they have embraced a system which disregards truth as a desired value.

I posit that the decline in democratic loving rule of law values proceed in tandem with the decline of civil society organizations with which to buttress our democracy. Many of the civil society organizations we had under colonial rule are moldering in the grave, where they have not been castrated or bought off.

In the absence of a strong civil society, one man rule is on the ascendancy. This is the time of idols; the Big Chief, the Supreme Leader, Our Father who doles out cash to pimp the poverty of the vulnerable and those who would sing songs of praise.

Who shall speak when “one man rule” so cows a cabinet and a people, that none dare tell the emperor he has no clothes?

Famous African American journalist Ida B. Wells, in her autobiography Crusade for Justice (University of Chicago Press 1970) stated: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." She goes on to argue that although the United States does have some "wonderful institutions" to protect our liberty, we have grown complacent and need to be "alert as the watchman on the wall." So too in Dominica; we can only preserve our democracy where we consistently work at it.

In the spirit of Ms. Wells, we here salute the Dominica Chronicle and its proprietor for assuming that noble role. And we ask democracy loving Dominicans to reflect on the fact that our independence and freedom was attained with the blood, sweat and toil of our anti-slave resisters, such as Jaco, Balla, Pharcelle and Congoree; and those modern heroes such as Loblack, Allfrey and LeBlanc who took up their mantle.

Today, Dominica’s democracy is at the crossroads. That the Chinese gift us a road, or that Venezuela installs a gas tank at Belfast, is no excuse to allow those who run our affairs to get away with lawless or irresponsible conduct.

Where we are asleep at the wheel, and inattentive to any sense of civic duty, we shall lose our democracy on Dominica. We must maintain that eternal vigilance, while we craft a bodyguard of independent institutions and civil society, to ensure that our democracy survives.