The Democratic Labour Party came to office in January 2008 in the wake of the unpopularity, caused by arrogance, of the Arthur Administration. Very quickly, the new administration was dealt a hand where they could blame all their failures on the collapse of the world economy. And they did not disappoint.
It appears that the country does not expect much from them and readily accepts their excuses for failure because everyone knows of the state of the global economy. In essence, they have exploited the international recession as a valid excuse for poor performance. The government has become so accustomed to country’s acceptance of their mediocre performance they now feel that they can extend that acceptance to all avenues of their behaviour. How else can you explain Government’s proposal to appoint Mr. Marston Gibson as the country’s new Chief Justice?
It would appear that neither Government nor Gibson did the necessary checks before he was offered and accepted the post of Chief Justice. That does not speak well for the judgement of the person who is expected to lead the island’s judiciary. Government is now intent on amending the Supreme Court of Judicature Act to cover another aspect of their inept performance.
If media reports are correct, Government proposes to debate the bill to amend the Act on Friday, after the close of the week-long Estimates Debate. Is the Government’s position so weak that it has to debate this important issue in the dead of night, when Members of Parliament are tired from a whole week in the House of Assembly?
My take on this fiasco is that: the Chief Justice designate gave up his job in the United States before it was discovered that he did not qualify; the Government found itself in an embarrassing situation, facing a potential law suit, since Mr. Gibson is now unemployed due to the job offer; and amending the Act is Government’s way of rectifying the situation, but it looks really bad.
If Government wants to salvage a modicum of creditability, it should come clean and let the country know that it made a mistake. They should then offer Mr. Gibson some compensation to help him over the period between jobs, even though he does not qualify for a cent since the contract to employ him would have been illegal.
I do not think that I am qualified to advise the learned people that make up the Government. However, for what it is worth, I believe that Government should not squander the goodwill and tolerance of the electorate. They should be reminded that even though the former administration was handling the economy well, arrogance brought them down. This lot is not handling the economy well, and the excuse of the world economic crisis is wearing thin and therefore they cannot afford this level of arrogance. Hard ears yuh won’t hear own way yuh gine feel.