FOR all we know, Mr Adidja Palmer, better known to the world as deejay Vybz Kartel, may be an honourable man who is in no way linked to any form of criminality whatsoever.

Indeed, until the contrary is proved in a court of law, it is not our prerogative to speculate about his guilt or innocence.

By the same token, we do not seek to question last week’s decision by the police to extend Mr Kartel’s detention for another 30 days, nor the basis on which Mr Kartel’s lawyer, Mr Christian Tavares Finson is trying to secure his release in time to perform at the 18th staging of the hugely popular Reggae Sumfest festival in Montego Bay, St James.

Indeed, if the festival was a purely private venture, as opposed to one that is endorsed by the government-owned Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) — which just happens to be chaired by one of Sumfest’s directors, Mr Robert Russell — we’d have very little to say about it.

However, we cannot, in the face of all that has been happening over the past year, refrain from commenting on the out-of-orderness inherent in Mr Russell’s expressed expectation that Mr Palmer will be released in time to perform on the festival.

Yes, we can understand where Mr Russell is coming from as a businessman who is anxious to have what he deems to be the hottest performances on his show.

But he must not be allowed to forget that as a director of the TPDCo he is also representing a government which has yet to rinse itself of the stench from the mother of all scandals, ‘Dudusgate’.

Coming off the heels of his Government’s affair with Mr Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke who is currently facing drug and gun running charges in the United States, Mr Russell’s eagerness to have Mr Kartel released ahead of the detention period just doesn’t look right.

Add to that his plans to honour Mr Rodney Price, aka Bounty Killer, a man before the court for illegal possession of a firearm, among other crimes, and the picture simply gets murkier.

It’s not about who is or will be proven guilty of any crime when the time comes. It’s about the messages that we send to the already misguided among us, by our endorsement of that which has the appearance of unseemliness.

At a time when crime is the biggest hurdle between the society and prosperity, we cannot sit by and allow the Government to talk out of one side of its mouth about fighting crime while appearing to endorse it on the other.

If it is really serious about leading this country, the Government must make all its representatives, from the Senate down, aware that whatever used to obtain in the past as far as cavorting with dubious characters was concerned, is over.

No matter how financially inconvenient it may turn out to be.