[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen I reflect upon our legal system of the past fifty years – prior to our independence status versus today – one word comes to mind. And that word is remorse. Remorse started within our legal system when certain unscrupulous lawyers pulverized it in ways the public would never imagine. Juries were among the favourite targets. Ours is a small country, therefore I will not elaborate on the various sneak methods of attack. But juries are also people, with flesh and blood and, in most cases, consciences. They know themselves and must also know they contributed much to the present sad state of our justice system. Talk about making a mockery of the law!
My reason for highlighting the past is that what happened back in the day continues even as I write. To paraphrase Scripture, we reap what we sow. For example, there is a price to be paid when trusted public servants betray the oath they took and leak confidential information, for strictly political reasons, to confirmed enemies of a government. There is good reason for the widespread belief that certain public servants permit themselves to be bribed in exchange for passing on official documents, however innocuous – contrary to law. The government consequently finds itself under attack by its own trusted personnel; in effect a government at war with itself. It is my view, and I trust I am not alone, that for the government’s sake and the sake of right-thinking citizens, by which I mean conscionable citizens with respect for the law, appropriate action must be taken by this administration to stop the leaks in the public interest.
Otherwise, what next? Private letters from private citizens to their lawyers or MPs? Should we expect to hear judges’ decisions read out on TV even before the judges have had a chance to do what they alone are authorized to do? Can we expect to hear about who said what in jury rooms concerning particular cases? Obviously this cannot go on. Our system of government permits citizens to make known their grievances without risk to themselves or their freedom. As I see it, individuals – including MPs and permanent secretaries – who prove to have no regard for the oath they took upon assuming their positions are unworthy of such positions, not to say the nation’s trust!
— By: Petrus Romulus
Editor’s Note: Because of his personal circumstances, the writer of the above requested a pen name be used instead of his real name, which he has supplied to the STAR.
