JO - The perils of gathering clean evidence

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

The perils of gathering clean evidence

Mark Wignall

Thursday, March 11, 2010

COLLEAGUE columnist Ken Chaplin's excellent Tuesday column, "Dudus, US Govt, interception of information", in explaining that Prime Minister Golding was acting on solid ground in refusing the extradition based on evidence gathered through a breach of Dudus's constitutional right -- his phone was tapped without the required judicial authorisation -- wrote, "The law... requires that for intercepted communication to be admissible in any criminal proceedings, it must have been obtained, disclosed and used in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Golding said that this was not done."

Read the whole column here.

Snippet(s):

"
To me, one part of the problem that has cropped up with the understanding of the extradition treaty is, which parts of it are, prior to granting an extradition request, legally determinable in Jamaica and by what process? On the other side, which conditions of the treaty is it that empowers the Americans the right to render us speechless, that is, we must just sign and give up the person without further ado?

I have never been one of those who believe that the prime minister should never have involved himself in the delicate matter of the Dudus extradition request. Hell, whether the prime minister wanted to or not, he was involved."

"Of the 26 extradition requests received since he became prime minister, he has had no occasion (except for Dudus) to go full frontal in supporting any other person's "constitutional right". So the very fact that he has come out in such strong support of Dudus, it ought to mean that he has taken legal advice from the highest levels before committing himself and is convinced that his legs are sturdy.

If, based on the treaty, it was determined that the American outfit which obtained evidence did so by the illegal wiretaps of phones, must we surmise that all the Americans say they have on Dudus is a file of telephone transcripts and the actual recordings? We would be naïve to believe that."

&

"We must bear in mind that the Americans are not under any romantic illusions about what sectors of our society are corrupt. From their own experiences, they have long recognised that at the end of the day a president like, say, the late Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton (with Monica Lewinsky), and most other people are all humans under the skin and especially under the covers. Far from being perfect, what America has that is the envy of the purists among us is the workable synergy which springs from the lateral and horizontal push-pull of checks and balances, with each level having probing tentacles on the other.

I am certain that the Americans must have known of the breach, so the question to be asked is why did not the investigating entity abide by the conditions of the Act and apply to a judge in Chambers for authorisation for a wiretap or a series of wiretaps? It is my belief that they acted outside of the specific provision because there is not a single layer of the local system which they trust. Not a policeman, not a judge."

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observemark@gmail.com

JO - Failed state status on the horizon

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Failed state status on the horizon

Mark Wignall

Thursday, May 06, 2010

"You chopping, boy, but no chips are flying." - From the cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn.

One day last week as I allowed myself the opportunity to watch Senator Dwight Nelson, our minister of national security, address the Upper House on security matters, a number of items jumped out at me.

Read the whole column here.

Snippet(s):

"Just recently the new commissioner, Owen Ellington, made the appeal for the people to assist in the push-back against violent criminality, and the commissioner immediately before him, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, told us in 2005 that Tivoli is the "mother of all garrisons". Before him, Lucius Thomas detailed the corruption inside the police force. And just before the JLP election win in September 2007, the JLP proudly strode into power armed with an impressive crime plan authored by ex-commissioner, Colonel Trevor McMillan."

&

"Commissioner Ellington would probably be the last to admit that many of the advances that were made in taking down criminals of the "Mr Big" type happened mostly with the efforts of the British policemen who came in under the last administration when the security ministry was headed by Peter Phillips. Will he admit, though, that too high a percentage of personnel in the JCF are too close to organised criminality? Nah, he won't."

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observemark@gmail.com

JO - Hail to the republic?

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Hail to the republic?

Lloyd B Smith

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

IT has been said that hindsight is 20/20 vision. Hindsight has to do with the understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened. Bruce Golding is caught in such a pickle with respect to the Dudus (Christopher Coke) affair. In retrospect, Mr Golding should not have yielded to the temptation of being enthroned as the member of parliament for West Kingston (popularly called Tivoli Gardens).

Read the whole column here.

Snippet(s):

"(T)he JLP, perhaps for the first time in its long, illustrious history, has found itself at odds with Jamaica's and its greatest ally, the United States of America! It must be remembered that while the leftist People's National Party has been known in the past to adopt a certain anti-American stance, especially during the height of the Cold War (think Cuba and Fidel Castro), the JLP was always totally in the bosom of Uncle Sam. Indeed, many decades ago when its maximum leader and founder Sir Alexander Bustamante was asked by reporters what was the JLP's foreign policy, he quipped, “We are with the West!” This in essence meant that the JLP was with the USA, the bastion of western civilisation, democracy and civilisation."

"(A)s colleague columnist Mark Wignall outlined in his Sunday Observer article, there is likely to be a major social fallout (and perhaps economic too), if Dudus Coke, the Big Man, is extradited to the United States. But outside of this likely outcome, there are also serious implications for the ruling JLP whose leader could well be declared persona non grata in his own constituency if he should be party to such a perceived collusion with the US State Department."

&

"In the meantime, the political fallout has begun, with many Jamaicans feeling that they will not be able to get a US visa or the one they have may be terminated. One youth man last week declared to me in a most chagrined mood that he was not going to bother to go the US Embassy because he knows he will not get a visa. Meanwhile, many Jamaicans from all walks of life will be approaching their travel to the USA with great trepidation as they will hear that their visa has been cancelled only when they arrive at the airport to board a flight. Blame it on Bruce? The US State Department has so far denied any such linkage, but in politics perception can break or make you."

JO - Aftermath of the Dudus extradition

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Aftermath of the Dudus extradition

Mark Wignall

Sunday, March 07, 2010


A week or so after the extradition, downtown Kingston, effectively void of its 'protector', has become one vast no-man's land. The outburst of violence began at the moment his extradition was announced.


Read the whole scenario here.


Snippet(s):


"As it appears, there is some evidence that gunmen with notional attachments to the PNP have been teaming up with those in the forefront; various spokespersons in the PNP have been calling for an islandwide state of emergency. Meanwhile, the information minister has dismissed the idea that the prime minister has formally requested the Americans to send in the Marines."


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observemark@gmail.com

JO - The US tightening the screws

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

The US tightening the screws

Mark Wignall

Thursday, March 04, 2010


AFTER having financed our way of life for too many years, our powerful neighbour to the north, the USA, has decided not just as the one which calls the tune, to tell the piper to "play another tune", it has, in the latest US Drug Report on Jamaica, told us to pipe down, straighten up and fly right.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"In its most pointed accusation (Country's Actions against Drugs 2009 sub-headed Corruption) it said, "Indeed, Jamaica's delay in processing the US extradition request for a major suspected drug and firearms trafficker with reported ties to the ruling party highlights the potential depth of corruption in the government.""

"Based on the geopolitical maxim as best espoused by Henry Kissinger in the 1970s that America has no friends, only interests, the US - without Cold War considerations and with an economy that is increasingly going up the down escalator - has little time to be splitting hairs with a dead-broke, corrupt, crime-ridden, politically insignificant country such as ours."

"The government's position on its refusal to hand over Tivoli "president" Christopher "Dudus" Coke is that the information as gathered through wiretapping of his phone was done in breach of Jamaican law."

&

"Let us not fool ourselves that wiretapping can be legally sanctioned in a small, corrupt country like Jamaica where every politician knows a man of interest and every superintendent of police is a potential invitee to that link."

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observemark@gmail.com

JO - Right on the mark, Wignall

Jamaica Observer

Right on the mark, Wignall

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Dear Editor,



Mr Mark Wignall, in his article carried in the Sunday Observer of April 5, 2009, has made some very solid points as they pertain to, members of the Diaspora (myself included).

Read the whole letter here.

JO -Law-abiding citizens want guns

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Law-abiding citizens want guns

Wignall's World

Mark Wignall

Sunday, July 20, 2008

In the mid-1970s when Jamaica was number 10 on the list of the most murderous countries in the world, it used to be said of persons who were shot dead by gunmen that they 'were at the wrong place at the wrong time'. Then the 'terrorist gunman' with his high-powered rifle was introduced by the politics of the times and just as 1980 was ushered in, it seemed that all hell had broken loose.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"In the election campaign of that year there were certain areas like Olympic Gardens and most of the Kingston West Police Division (Arnett Gardens, Matthews Lane, Fletchers Land, Denham Town, Jones Town, Tivoli Gardens) that were off limits to all sensible people.

If you were in any political garrison that you did not belong to after 6:00 pm or were travelling across political boundaries, your chances of being shot dead were increased significantly.

If you lived in any of those areas, you would be fodder for the political marauders as they carried out their murderous raids in the hours before daybreak.

When they came, men, women, children and the dogs were all fair targets."

"While most who left in the times prior to the 1960s and on the cusp of Independence did so because Jamaica was seen as having nothing to offer them economically, many of those who travelled to foreign shores in the 1970s and after named security concerns as one of the main reasons for leaving their homeland.

In 2008 those personal and national security concerns are very much a part of our daily diet.

We live, sleep and eat the fear that if the high prices don't get us, the gunman will."

"At present only business persons who have applied for and met the stringent requirements are in possession of legally held firearms.

Elected politicians travel with security details while we who supported them and voted for them in the hope of us building a better and safer Jamaica are forced to face the criminal gunman empty-handed."

&

"The criminal gunman knows that no witnesses will come forward, so he has about a 90% chance of making it to the next killing.

In this scenario the state has failed to protect us, continues to fail us and when our elected officials speak, it is mainly to sell us another fairy tale about our safety.

I say to the state, give us guns to protect ourselves because the mechanisms which exist to do so are patently not working."