The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

STATE Minister for Legal Affairs Elsworth Johnson yesterday cautioned against making arbitrary public statements based on emotions, as he called on aggrieved Bahamians and public officials to petition the Supreme Court should the actions of government officials constitute a breach in the law.

The comments by the Yamacraw MP were an indirect reference to a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis by Opposition Leader Philip “Brave” Davis regarding the recent criminal probes into Progressive Liberal Party politicians.

Though expressing his unwillingness to “dignify” Mr Davis’ letter with a response, Mr Johnson said should there be an instance where a law, “not emotion”, has been breached, those aggrieved should “go to that independent and partial and fearless institution”, namely the judiciary, and “state your claim”.

Meanwhile, National Security Minister Marvin Dames told The Tribune that Mr Davis’ statements were “ridiculous” and “absurd”, as he again insisted there is “no boogeyman out there investigating, looking to trump up charges against any PLP” politician.

Mr Dames also said while the Minnis administration is not spearheading the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s investigations, the government is committed to ensuring that “no matter where you sit in this country that you are just as responsible for your actions as the young man on the streets.”

“That’s what the people of this country want to see,” Mr Dames added.

In a letter written on July 18 and subsequently leaked to the press on Sunday, Mr Davis lashed out at the Minnis administration for the RBPF’s anti-corruption investigations of PLP politicians, warning: “When you set out to dig a grave for your enemy, dig two.”

Calling investigations like the one into former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly Dion Smith an “abuse of power,” Mr Davis warned that the “offending parties, be they police officers or politicians, need to understand that there will come a day of reckoning for them as well.”

Although stating “what goes around comes around”, Mr Davis insisted his words were not threats to Dr Minnis or the government, but rather an “immutable law of the moral universe”.

When questioned on the matter by reporters yesterday, Mr Johnson said: “I would just invite all and sundry, if there (are) any allegations of the breach of a law—not emotions, the breach of a law—you state which law is being breached, and you go to that independent and partial and fearless institution, and you state your claim. That is the history of The Bahamas, that is the history of the Westminster modelled system that we have, that it allows these things.

“We are a country of laws,” he added. “If you allege that a law has been breached, cite it, and there are ways that we have put together as a group how we will deal with disagreement. And you go to the courts. There are any number of resolutions that one can get.

“When I practised at the Bar, and I (found) that the issues of private rights had been breached, I go there. And they were not reluctant to give declarations. You do that. But what I would not want us to do is make statements that would militate against the building of a country that is transparent, that’s accountable.”

Meanwhile, Mr Dames, who has shot down allegations of “witch hunts” against PLP members on multiple occasions, said the suggestion that Prime Minister Minnis is behind the recent investigations of PLP politicians is inherently “undemocratic” and “crazy”.

Mr Dames then asked: “If your hands are clean, why should you be concerned?”

“Maybe I’m looking at this differently from them, but my thing here is, matters are brought to the police’s attention, they have an obligation to investigate, no matter who may be a suspect,” he said. “Politicians and former politicians no matter where they sit, PLP, FNM, DNA, wherever, whoever, are not above the law. You don’t get a special dispensation because you served in politics, or because you are currently in politics.

“You don’t get immunity from your actions…the Bahamian people have been saying for some time, that people in authority feel as if a different law applies to them. And we cannot have that in a democracy. We have to simply allow law enforcement, allow the judiciary, we have to allow these arms, allow the (director of public prosecutions), we have to allow these arms to do their jobs without any form of interference.

“We were ushered into office saying that we will deal with corruption wherever it exists and that we would introduce legislation to create an independent anti-corruption entity, that we will restore confidence in The Bahamas. And so we’re not doing anything that we said that we would not do. And given the mandate that we were voted into office, there is an expectation by the people who put us there to perform.”

The recent corruption probes have created tension between the two major political parties. They have led the PLP to call into question the impartiality of the police force conducting the probes.