Former AG worried about uneven justice in T&T

Former Trinidad and Tobago Attorney General Bridgid Annisette-George has suggested that justice in the country appears to be uneven at this time.

A report in the Trinidad Guardian says Annisette-George made the observation in a farewell email to members of her former staff.

“Our noble call, as officers of justice, is to balance the scales of justice which seem to be unevenly balanced in many graphic representations,” The Guardian quoted her as saying.

She described the email as the most difficult "I have had to write" adding that “there are many thoughts and feelings engulfing me at this time,” the paper reported.

The report suggested that Annisette-George might have been forced out of office. It quoted her as saying: “I have little choice but to resort to the task as warranted...Fortunately, during my tenure I used several opportunities to express my sentiments, not solely for this ministry, but always for the 1.3 million inhabitants of this twin-island republic which we know and love as home.”

She added: “(it is) deeply simplistic to suggest that any group of persons should or could ever agree on all things and consequently divergence of thought contributed to this experience. The difference of personalities and the resultant lessons in human relations can never be quantified...At times we have had to serve(sic) and survive in treacherous waters, and so we did.”

According to the report, Annisette-George said there are two primary choices in life—accept conditions as they exist or accept the responsibility for changing them. She asked workers of the ministry to “endeavour to take responsibility for the positive changes in this ministry, recognising its pivotal role in national development.”

Last week Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced in Parliament that Annisette-George had decided to resign as a result of a possible conflict of interest in the CL matter.

Manning suggested that it was a serious matter, stating that she quit because “her worst fears were coming to pass and that the anticipated conflict of interest situation was imminent.” He told reporters the potential conflict could even reach the courts.

But on Tuesday the government pulled back from that position. Information Minister Neil Parsanlal issued a media release explaining that Manning's statements should not be construed to mean the former AG or any member of her family "is in any way implicated by the investigations into CL Financial or any of its subsidiaries.”

Source: Trinidad Guardian