Questionable Conduct: The Jamaican Political Reality

The Tivoli COE was mandated to have its public hearings conducted within a 3-month time period. The Commissioners exceeded this time span and did so without seeking the appropriate extension from the Governor- General. Two concerns come readily to mind:  Having ignored the protocol, what is the legal status of the public hearings conducted after the stipulated time span had expired? and  What were the circumstances that accounted for the overrun and where such unforeseen and/or unavoidable ? i) We are not in a position to state definitively if the overrun has altered the legal status of the public hearings conducted after the stipulated 3-month. Having not sought or obtained the extension, then it would seem that an argument could be made that the public hearings conducted after the expiry of the mandate would have no legal standing. Hence, the Commissioners would be barred from taking into their consideration any evidence given after the expired date. Consequently...

From the evidence adduced at the Western Kingston Commission of Enquiry there was no joint Police-Military operation in May 2010 with the prime purpose of executing the arrest warrant for Christopher “Dudus” Coke. Officially, the warrant for the arrest of Coke was the remit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). However, given the very limited capabilities of the JCF, the assistance of the Jamaica Defence (JDF) was critical to any such operation, even more so given the influence and resources of the Don in question. So in all operations even a token presence of a member of the JCF was mandatory outside of a declared state of emergency. In the latter case the army is given overwhelming police powers, chief among which is the power to arrest. Hence under a declared state of emergency army units need not have a member of the JCF present. It is against this background that the operation to capture Coke must be assessed. • The surveillance party was composed of resources from t...

The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has announced the establishment of a Commission of Enquiry (COE) to enquire into the circumstances surrounding the armed confrontation between members of the Security Forces and armed civilians primarily in Tivoli Gardens/ Denham Town area on and around May 10, 2010.                                                                               General Concerns The announcement of the Tivoli COE has been accompanied by an admission that there is no budget as yet for the exercise and no scheduled commencement date. However, the Minister of Justice is hoping that the...