The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames yesterday defended the police investigation that caused several Democratic National Alliance (DNA) members to be held in custody on Monday, emphasising politicians must be subjected to the law like everyone else.

Mr Dames, pictured, said Police Commissioner Paul Rolle “was well within his rights” on how he handled the matter.

He knocked the “usual suspects” of critics who appeared outside the Central Police Station to blame the Minnis administration for what happened, saying they did not know the facts.

“The law applies to all of us, regardless as to how we may think, or how we may feel,” he said.

Mr Dames said Commissioner Rolle told him DNA Leader Arinthia Komolafe and others lacked a permit when they protested outside the House of Assembly several weeks ago.

“According to the Commissioner,” he said, “they marched without a permit, they were told by officers they were obstructing traffic along the way before they got to Bay Street and they were repeatedly told by officers not to obstruct traffic. They continued. They came downtown and I believe that there was another demonstration taking place at the same time by the taxi drivers, a peaceful demonstration with a permit.

“The leader of the DNA and her team did not have a permit but that wasn’t the bigger problem, according to the Commissioner. The bigger problem was this, that they proceeded to overrun the officers and take over Parliament and I believe that there are video clippings to that effect but I saw nothing from the media expressing dismay about (the behaviour of) persons who are seeking leadership in this country.

“The law does not apply to some but does not apply to others. We had a clear example that day. You had the taxi drivers that applied for a permit and they demonstrated peacefully. You had another group who did not apply for a permit and who probably did not see the need to apply for a permit and try to overrun Parliament. But we are willing to overlook that and to say that someone’s rights are being infringed upon?

“The Commissioner, he expressed this to me, what he went on to say, he said ‘my officers did not take action that day because I did not want it to appear as if, you know, I was doing something wrong or I wanted a confrontation on the day of Parliament,’ so within his legal rights as the Commissioner of Police he decided to proceed summarily… He then went on to tell me that he waited for this period until things kind of died down, reached out to the leader of the DNA and the others and said ‘Listen, I don’t want any confrontation here, I don’t want any big press around this, but I want to resolve this matter. Can you come so that we can have the matter resolved?’ Then I guess she decided along with her group to call the press and others joined in, you know, we have groups of the usual suspects who will come out, not having the information but who come out and say they’re standing for justice.

“We had a young man that went before the courts a few weeks ago for raping any number of women and I saw no one coming and standing up against that. You have young men daily who are arrested and some may say they ought to have been given a break. I saw no one coming out to stand up against that. What are we saying? That the Commissioner should be very selective in how he applies the law? He had a year to do what he had to do. He made the decision that he would do it three weeks later.”

Mr Dames said no politician directed Commissioner Rolle to take the actions he did. He knocked the press for not demanding proof before printing the claims of those who said the arrests were prompted by political interference.

“The Commissioner acted in good faith,” he said. “The Commissioner made it clear that he acted alone, in his capacity as Commissioner of Police. We often speak about the independence of the Commissioner. Well there you have it. Whether you like his decision or not, the question remains, did he break the law? Did he abuse his authority? These are the questions that we must be asking.”

Speaking to reporters outside Cabinet yesterday, Attorney General Carl Bethel said he was surprised by what happened to the DNA supporters but was disturbed by the criticism surrounding the matter.

“I was as surprised as anybody else in The Bahamas by the events that occurred yesterday,” he said. “It is though disturbing to me - the suggestion that is implicit in a lot of the criticism - that there is a class of Bahamians, namely the political class, who are immune to the rule of the law.

“We understand that there is a distinction between a political action and crime, no question of that, but there may be instances - as has been shown elsewhere quite recently - where political action may cause alarm. The appropriate agency to determine that is the police by an appropriate investigation.

“I have no personal view as to whether a line was crossed, that is not my job, nor do I encourage anybody to speculate on the matter. The appropriate constitutional authority to determine whether a law was broken is the police. They are the investigating arm of the state. Once they have made their determination, they will make that to a constitutionally independent public prosecutor, the Director of Public Prosecutions.”