Loss of face, loss of faith? - the Peter O'Connor column

The emotions being expressed in the aftermath of the State of Emergency are frightening. The kindest thing being said is that the government has suffered a disastrous loss of face.

And the critics are far more scathing about the alleged assassination plot against the Prime Minister and certain members of cabinet. We will look at the ranting of Keith Rowley and the PNM below, for they both have their separate agendas unrelated to the good of the country.

I am more concerned with the almost rabid opinions being expressed in blogs and the like by persons who are not PNM supporters, and who will never see the current PNM as a choice. 

These are the people who are claiming that they have been betrayed by the PP government, because nothing is changing in terms of competence, transparency, “jobs for the boys (and girls)”, and the spectre of corruption, although there are no “smoking gun” cases of the last before us. 

These are the people who conveniently forget that the PNM laid a mine field of debts, corruption, crime, incompetence and failure for the incoming government. 

These are the people who are claiming that the SoE was wrong, and the assassination claims were desperate lies to attempt to justify the emergency.

But what the critics still refuse to acknowledge is that the vast majority of the population (as shown in all published polls) supported the emergency and the curfew. 

And notwithstanding that large quantities of drugs, arms and ammunition were seized, a major diesel fuel theft racket busted and hundreds of persons arrested on outstanding warrants, the critics argue that all of this could have been achieved by simply applying standard policing methods. 

But those policing methods have failed spectacularly, and increasingly, for over ten years!

So because the government has, according to popular opinion, lost face in this whole episode, culminating with the non-prosecution (to date) of the sixteen alleged plotters, the population claims it has lost faith in the government.

And on the face of all the criticism, those who have not bothered to look carefully at how this plot played out, would seem to have a case for their loss of faith. 

If we assume that the government came up with the idea of the assassination plot we could well criticize them. But, when we look at where the revelation of this plot originated, we would have to ask, what else could the government have done, far less said, about it?

It was police intelligence, supported by international feedback which discovered this plot. It was never a “creation” of anyone within the government. And police officers, from the Commissioner (Canadian) through all of the Senior (local) Police are still telling us that the plot was there, and the danger to the Prime Minister and society was real and was imminent.

I, for one cannot accept that all of these officers would be lying to us in order to somehow shore up an unsteady government which was trying to suppress the trade unions. 

The very idea is a slander on the whole police service, who, despite their unhappiness with their wage negotiations at the beginning of the SoE, have risen to the occasion and served their country—not just their government—magnificently.

Yes, there have been instances of police abuse, but I cannot see any of these being laid at the feet of the government per se. Nor have we had any evidence whatever of the police arresting or detaining anyone—from the Nelson Street “Gangs” to the businessmen allegedly involved in the assassination plot—on the “instructions” of the government.

Police, not cabinet, reports stated that the plot had its genesis in the drug trade, and that there was an element of political support involved. 

Readers may for the time being draw their own conclusions as to where this “political support” was founded. How much of the “political” element was revealed to Rowley by the police is uncertain, but Rowley would do well to recognize, as many of us already have, that his ranting are just that—noise from an empty and largely discarded vessel. 

He must be aware of where the real danger is emanating. The government, and Rowley, would do well to look closely at those in the PNM who have suddenly become silent, when it would seem there is so much for them to shout about.

And the rest of us would do well to take this whole issue far more seriously than we have so far. While the initial threat may have been averted, it is far from over, in terms of investigations, arrests and trials.

And in considering the above, we would also be wise to place a little more faith in the only government we legitimately have.