CATEGORY:COMMENTARY ---------------------- INSIDE GRENADA SATURDAY October 6,2007 by Lloyd Noel The old folks used to have a saying - when trying to correct us younger ones then - that if we had patience and lived long enough -----“we would see an ants belly.” I for one used to think, that standard of tolerance and living in hope was much too high to adopt and follow- because like others around me in those times, we were all in a hurry to get where we wanted to go. We would speak up too quickly without thinking properly, and many times we ended up saying the wrong things. But then again we were young, not properly tutored and very in-experienced. Those were not excuses that made our brash expressions right, but at least they can be seen and taken as explanations for our too-hurried rush to put our thoughts into words. As I grew older and gained some knowledge and experience, I saw in a Book of articles by Fr. Nicholson called “Nick’s Corner” - the wise advice that said —“Let our brains be engaged before putting our mouth into gear to speak. Experience shows that the first screw that gets loose in a person’s head is the one that controls the tongue”. And as I listened over the years, to outrageous statements by persons who are expected to know better and to lead by example, the above advice keeps coming back to me as a signal reminder to avoid imitating those persons. But while one is always tempted to be kind and make allowances for those with whom we dis-agree, there comes a time when charity has to be discarded and allow reality to take its course in real life. When the news was published about the evidence given by Michael Creft -in that Court in Portland, Oregon in the U.S.A. , about the part he played during the fraudulent Off-shore Banks scandal in Grenada - and it was disclosed that he received a certain sum from those con-men, to sponsor or promote the NNP in that 1999 General Elections in which that party won all (15) Fifteen Seats. Because he detailed to whom he gave cash sums - including the Prime Minister and the party Treasurer at the time - I heard the party mouth pieces, Straker and Forrester, publicly stating that Creft must have been mentally sick to say such things in Court. Am sure those two party front-men must have heard and seen the Government Special Legal Advisor, Wildman, ranting and raving and grinning on T/V - about those members of the Judiciary who have grubby hands, and are abusing their authority by mis-using those tainted hands to dis-colour justice in favour of Peter David against the Attorney General. And even before those distasteful sounds had time to cool off or die down, there was Wildman again on T/V boasting that the Attorney General had obtained default judgment for Keith Mitchell against Lloyd Noel, in the Defamation action they brought. And in trying to be charitable again to all concerned, Wildman and his team in the Ag’s Chambers must have known that during the long-vacation of the Court, from August first to September fifteenth every year, that time for filing and serving High Court documents is at a standstill. And they are the ones who filed the claim against Noel and served it on the second August - thereby giving me up until September Seventeenth to file an appearance/acknowledgment, because the 15th and 16th September were public holidays. And to aid their malice and incompetence, my team of Lawyers did file the appearance on the 17th September and had it served at the AG’s Chambers as required by Law. Hence the question posed at the top of this article - who would they (Forrester and Straker ) say is really mentally sick? Michael Creft, or Wildman, or the Crown Counsel in the AG’s Chambers - who swore an affidavit claiming that Noel had defaulted with his Acknowledgment and Defence, and judgment must be given against him? I wait with baited breath to hear them. But to add public embarrassment to legal incompetence, and breach of the long-standing courtesies and Conventions among Lawyers of decency and integrity - without even having served the Order that was signed on Monday 24th September in the Registry, on Noel or his Lawyers, Mr. Wildman was boasting to the press on Tuesday 25th that the Prime Minister and his Lawyers, Wildman et al, were already doing damage assessment that Noel would have to pay to the Prime Minister. Spice Isle Review Newspaper, published on Wednesday 26th September, had the embarrassing front page with pictures of Prime Minister Mitchell and Noel, and the headline ... “Judgment in favour of P.M. against Noel?” At least the Editor had the good sense to add the question mark. To think that such scandalous incompetence could emanate from the AG’s Chambers, and made public by the same Special Legal Advisor, Wildman - who only days before were lambasting and insulting the members of the Judiciary, with contemptuous disregard for their office - and not a word from those Ministers with responsibility to the people for the Legal Department, and the image of the maintenance of Law and order in the State. But let some poor little Civil Servant or Policeman make a minor mix-up, or cross thread with a supervisor - is home he/she going and that is the end of that career. Grenadians, wake up and stand up and pay attention. Before some tropical storm or depression, not even hurricane, is mentioned in the News - people starting to buy up all kinds of stores in preparation for natural disaster. But the man-made disasters are hitting us all every week, and leaving behind indelible and long-lasting financial disasters that we may never be able to overcome in this generation - and except for the very few who are sticking their necks out to tell it as they see it, the majority are suffering in Silence. I refuse to believe, that all those Ministers sitting in the Cabinet, whether Elected M.P’s or Senators, are so devoid of common sense reasoning and understanding of what is happening around them; are so pre-occupied with their personal comings and goings; are so blinded by the positions they are holding that they have lost sight of the decent standards I know many of them once stood up for; are so taken in by the rhetoric from above and the apparent good life and authority they are enjoying - that they cannot begin to comprehend, after all these and those disasters, that the ship is sinking and we would all be going down with it, unless some rescue actions are taken and without any further delay. And just to up-date them, because they may not all have known the true position. During Wildman’s outbursts, after the Court of Appeal threw out his application for Leave to Appeal to the Privy Council in the Peter David matter - he hinted that more action in Court is coming against another NDC M.P. (Nazim Burke) who is also a Canadian/Commonwealth Citizen; and according to Wildman Nazim is also invalidly sitting in Parliament as a member thereof. Another officer in the current administration who, like Michael Creft, must feel that enough is more than enough - he/she has made a legal opinion available now, which should have been disclosed to the Lower House in Parliament by the Speaker, in which a very eminent Legal Luminary from T&T wrote a Seven pages opinion, in response to a request from the said Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament. Having quoted the sections of the Constitution in issue, and discussing the various aspects and implications arising therefrom, he concluded .... “I am of the opinion that the two (2) members in question (Peter and Nazim) are not disqualified from being elected to the House of Representatives by reason only of their holding citizenship of Canada.” The above, he said, meant that they were Citizens of a Commonwealth Country, as is provided for in the Constitution of Grenada. But the super Special Legal Advisor, Wildman, advised differently and his advice was obviously taken and the Case against Peter David was filed and the rest thus far is history. Yet the same Wildman is again promising further Court action, to spend more money, and further embarrass the AG, the Minister of Legal Affairs, and the Government as a whole. You guys and gals mean to tell us all, that you can see nothing wrong in the above quoted scenario? And if you did not know about the Legal Opinion from the eminent Queens Counsel, but you now know courtesy Grenada Today since last week, or after reading this column - what, if anything, are you going to do about it in Cabinet, in the House, or elsewhere? In addition to your collective responsibility as a Cabinet - you also have individual duties and responsibilities to the people; firstly as their elected members of Parliament where you are M.P’s, and secondly as the respective Ministers of the Ministries you are heading by the Oath you took. So at the end of the day - whenever the end comes - you will have to give an account of your stewardship to the people. And over and above that level or standard of accountability - ladies and gentlemen, you will have to live with your consciences, if you sit in silence and in-active while the people and their heritage go down the drain and into the gutter of destruction. As I listened in sympathy - to the news of the struggle by the people in Burma, against the oppression of their religious and human rights, by a Government that is steeped in dictatorial trends - I recall vividly the days and weeks of similar struggles we went through in these Spice Isles, in 1973/74 against a similar dictatorship - and I cannot help reflecting how the times have changed. Whether for the better or worse, only more time will eventually tell in due course. Last week in Gouyave, we laid to rest a son of the soil, Cebert Bernadine, in one of the biggest funerals ever seen in the parish of St. John. Cebert was a Fisherman and Farmer and a genuine people’s man who will be greatly missed. He was a sincere friend of many of us, and the tears that flowed naturally were ample evidence of the high esteem in which he was held by us all. Sincere Condolences to his widow and family, friends and acquaintances here at home and overseas. And may he , and all those who passed away last week, rest in peace.