WILL THE POLICE AND THE DPP ARREST THE GOVERNMENT AND MR CHOU?

"No Government should be above the law. So, why should the police or DPP arrest ordinary citizens for breaking the law, and allow members of the Government of St. Lucia and the Taiwanese Ambassador to break our laws with impunity?"

 As the Super 8 prepares to launch what it calls its massive rally near the Public Library in Vieux Fort, lets us examine the “Sword of Damocles” that hangs over the head of a corrupt government which has taken the country to the brink of economic disaster, international shame and social chaos.

No Government should be above the law. So, why should the police or DPP arrest ordinary citizens for breaking the law, and allow members of the Government of St. Lucia and the Taiwanese Ambassador to break our laws with impunity?

There are international precedents where a country’s law-enforcement machinery has closed in, arrest and charge Ministers of Government for breaking the law; so why is the Police and DPP afraid to do the same in St. Lucia?

We want our law enforcement machinery and other arms of justice to take the lead and demonstrate their intestinal fortitude by arresting members of the government and their accessories for openly breaking the law.

The tyrants in the Middle East thought they would enjoy “eternal” immunity for their atrocities and crimes against humanity against their very own people. But the "ordinary man on the street" who make governments "powerful" can also make them "powerless".

Saddam was toppled and executed; the democratic revolution in Egypt brought the collapse of the Mubarak government; the rebels in Libya are as we speak toppling the Gaddafi Regime. The Assad regime is also at a tottering angle and it’s a matter of time before the inevitable happens!

In each of the cases cited above, it was unadulterated “people’s power” which solved the problem.

If our police and the DPP will not arrest the Government and the Taiwanese Ambassador for breaking our laws, then will an apparently increasing mass of angry people put up with those violations and corruption forever? Under those potentially explosive conditions, what will happen next? If the status quo persist, should we as a people seek the support of the International Community or should we begin to exercise our people’s power and arrest the criminals who form the Government of St. Lucia? Or should we do both?

Let us examine the case for the arrest of the government of St. Lucia.

Section 77 of the Constitution of Saint Lucia which states: 

“All revenues or other moneys raised or received by Saint Lucia (not being revenues or other moneys that are payable, by or under any law for the time being in force in Saint Lucia, into some other fund established for specific purpose) shall be paid into and form a Consolidated Fund.”

The issue is further clearly elucidated in section 7 of the Finance (Administration) Act, Cap 15.01. That section says:

(1) “Subject to the Constitution and except as otherwise provided in this Act, all revenues and other monies raised or received for the purposes of the Government, not being revenue or other monies which are payable by or under any enactment into some other fund established for a specific purpose, shall be paid into and form part of the Consolidated Fund.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) monies raised or received include monies received by way of a grant, donation, gift or other liked method.”

Clearly, the financial arrangement between UWP Parliamentarians and the Taiwanese is illegal, irrespective of the channels of diversion they used. Channeling the money through a third party like the village council does not mitigate the offence, it only broadens the net for arrest; for they all have broken the laws governing procurement as well as the state laws relating to “sources and application of funds”.

Let us consider some specific cases. At the very top, we have the Tuxedo Trial which was an unequivocal instance where an entire Cabinet of ministers was tried for corruption and found guilty in a Court of Law; yet, they continue to govern as if Tuxedo never happened.

The Minister of Housing was charged for customs fraud; yet, he continues to sit deep within the bosom of government.

Contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and the Finance Administration Act, ministers illegally received millions of dollars from the Taiwanese Ambassador. The Minister for Foreign Affairs is a US federal convict who has broken the Laws of St. Lucia several times with impunity.

The question is: If the police and the DPP will not arrest those criminals who are deeply entrenched in government, then who will? If the trend continues and there is no justice, will the people follow the precedents of the Middle East and seek their own justice?