On Monday this week Prime Minister Allen Chastanet described before the press some of the difficulties confronting his administration in its pursuit of a judicial resolution of IMPACS, not least among them an absence of admissible evidence.
He said: “On the campaign I promised, if elected, to put together a special task force to look into IMPACS. But I could not believe what we found—better to say, did not find—upon taking office. The evidence, such as it was, wasn’t even in Saint Lucia; it was in Jamaica. Nothing in the report could be substantiated, so putting a task force in place wasn’t going to resolve the problem. When we took office there wasn’t even a DPP.”
Once Daarsrean Greene assumed the post, Chastanet said, “I gave him the opportunity to evaluate the situation himself in order to determine whether he could rescue the situation that his predecessor had publicly complained about.”
The prime minister went on to say the DPP’s office had since been “working with the government of Jamaica and collected some evidence. Meanwhile an investigation is on-going.” He did not say how the Jamaica government became involved in the matter and to what extent. According to Saint Lucia law, the lead investigator in the IMPACS matter should have personally handed over to the DPP at the conclusion of his investigation, all related matters. Instead the IMPACS report was delivered to then Prime Minister Kenny Anthony, who then proceeded to publicize on TV vital aspects of the investigation, without prior consultation with the office of the DPP.
He later said that if the DPP needed to see more than the report she received from the prime minister, then she should have consulted with him. Then Justice Minister Victor La Corbiniere publicly concurred. The DPP left office never having seen any evidence supportive of allegations contained in the IMPACS report.
Meanwhile, President of the Police Welfare Association, Travis Chicot, has said: “The DPP needs to come out and tell us what’s happening with IMPACS. If he has evidence regarding any of the related killings, he should prosecute. Let the courts decide the veracity of the evidence.”
The National Security Minister agreed. “I think he [Chicot] is correct,” said Mr. Hermangild Francis. “The onus is on him. The government has done everything in its power to deal with the IMPACS report and connected matters. We are not going to be doing as others before us did, which is to say they behaved as if they were personnel from the DPP’s office. The DPP is independent and the Constitution gives him that right.”
On Thursday, in a call to Timothy Poleon’s Newsspin programme, Rick Wayne said apropos an earlier statement by the prime minister: “This thing has the same root cause or problem as Grynberg. We do not want to address the facts we know. Why do we refuse to demand answers from the main figure in both IMPACS and Grynberg? He made the determination to ignore the findings of lawful inquests in favour of ‘corrective steps’ he felt would appease the State Department. This is what has led to all the trouble now confronting us. The DPP appears to be missing in action because he knows every step he makes toward a resolution stands to bring down the whole house. The government should be up-front and tell it like it is.”
Meanwhile, those caught up in the fall-out of the IMPACS report, continue to suffer. As Chastanet highlighted on Monday: “I am completely cognizant of the officers who are involved in IMPACS and how difficult it must be for them. It must be very, very difficult for them. We know it is and, what’s worse, some are still in police uniforms but are not allowed in certain departments. They walk around looking like pariahs; nobody wants to interact with them. It’s not healthy for the police force generally. So we’re trying to resolve that. At no point have we made this less of a priority today than when we were in Opposition.”
It remains conjectural how much a comfort to the hurting RSLPF will be the prime minister’s expression of concern.
