I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND

Readers of this blog will have noticed that I haven't written for some time. This has been deliberate on my part as I have watched with not little dismay the political machinations on both sides of the political divide and decided that I really didn't want to get embroiled in the mess that the politicians were making. Better to stay home with my wife and kids and my dogs and pray for the rains to come (the lack of which is ruining my garden).


But this latest confusion with the scandal known as 'emailgate' and the Integrity Commission ('IC') et al, now has me completely baffled! I don't understand what is going on. It just doesn't make sense.


 I've said it a thousand times: if you ever want to understand a problem, go back to the beginning. Well, the beginning was just a little over two years ago when the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Keith Rowley, produced in Parliament a wad of alleged emails, the contents of which were absolutely horrific. According to the emails that Dr. Rowley read out in Parliament The Prime Minister, the Attorney General and several other high ranking Government Ministers and officials were involved in various plots including a plot to kill a woman journalist, a plot to bug the offices of the Director of Public Prosecutions ('DPP'), a plot to undermine the office of the DPP by promoting or making the DPP a Judge, and so on. I can't remember all the details nor all of the allegations, but they were terrible. And if they were true, they should have caused the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Prime Minister and her cohorts. But the operative words in that last sentence are "if they were true."


The problem is that after two long years we, the general public, have now been told that the emails  that Dr. Rowley quoted from are fake. They are forgeries. They are not real. Well, you would be forgiven for thinking that if the emails are not real ... that they are fakes ... that this would be the end of the matter. But, no! It's not! Because Dr. Rowley and his supporters have moved the goal posts slightly and are now saying that while the emails are fake the substance of the allegations contained in them is/are true!! And the police say that they are still investigating the scandal!! It's not over!


Then the IC issues a statement that it is closing its investigation into the scandal because there is no evidence and then  its Deputy Chairman resigns saying in effect that the investigation into the substance of the allegations (there's that word again) has not been concluded. To all of which I say a loud "huh"?


I simply don't understand. How can there be an investigation into allegations made in documents that are known to be false? In all my years as an attorney I have known that if a witness spins a tale that is shown to be false then his credibility is so destroyed that even if he later says something that might be true his entire testimony will be disregarded. The same has to be with a false document. And if there is substance to any or all of the terrible allegations then why hasn't anything been done about it?


Remember: we don't even know the name of the person who gave the fake emails to Dr. Rowley. Do the Police know his/her name? And what is taking so long to bring this thing to closure one way or the other? It doesn't make sense.


Why is there an investigation being made into allegations that are contained in documents that are false? Does this mean that anybody can fake a document and put in scandalous allegations in it and when the document is proven to be a fake that the person can then say that the document may be fake, but you have to look at the substance of the allegation even though the allegation is made on a false document? Is this where we have reached as a society?


Is it that the Police are playing politics with the investigation and don't want to close it down until after the elections due in September? Is this not a reasonable question? If not, why not? What have the Police done in this investigation to make you believe that they are not playing politics? Or is it just a straight case of total and complete incompetence? Either way, the thought of political partisanship or incompetence on the part of the Police is frightening.


And what the heck is going on inside the IC? What is still outstanding in this two year old investigation? Why is whatever it is still outstanding in the investigation still outstanding? Are there elements in the IC and the Police Service who are simply trolling for some sort of evidence and that's why they won't close off the case? Because they hope to find something?


I simply don't understand. I was taught years ago that when a person tells you something that you don't understand, one percent of the time it is because that person simply doesn't understand what he is saying; the remaining ninety-nine percent of the time it is because he doesn't want you to understand! And that's what I feel is happening now. The explanations (or lack thereof) for the delay in closing off this mess simply just don't make sense and I just don't understand!