The Manatt Enquiry is a triumph for Bruce. The issue could have brought the Cabinet down. Instead, it morphed into drama and now all the glitterati are in the best seats. An enquiry is no substitute for trial of politicians in the courts but it may be used as a ploy to pre-empt a future trial. We must keep last year’s events alive and not allow politicians to dictate what is legal, illegal or unconstitutional. We saw MPs take seats in the House knowing they were inelegible and it seems the PM, the JLP, Ministers Lightbourne, Robinson, Nelson and others defied our laws and constitution. What happens now? Do we forget the massacre of the 73, the many “disappeared”? What are the DPP and Commissioner Ellington doing? The USA will try Dudus by their law, but what of those who broke our laws to protect him? Who will prosecute them? Last year in the UK ministers were fired by the PM, deselected as MP and arrested. They lost job, office as MP and went to jail – three distinct processes and sanctions. Moshe Katsav, Israel’s ex-president, was just imprisoned for seven years. This is the equality under law we need here. Minister Robinson was fired by the PM. Will he be arrested? Are ministers and JLP officials investigated so we can charge them for subverting laws and undermining our security and treaties? Just because we cannot lock up all of them is no reason not to lock up a few. This enquiry showcases the excellent forensic skills and engaging idiosyncracies of our top advocates and exposes the dunces, but it’s not the answer to the deception, injustice, pain and bereavement which Tivoli and the nation suffered this past year.

Politicians do not see things as we do. The Manatt Enquiry satisfies JLP and PNP interest in political point-scoring and to distract us from serious issues. What must we do to ensure politicians face the courts as do regular citizens? Will the AG indict herself, her party leader, MPs and her party? Is it not time for civil society, rights groups and the diaspora to ask the International Criminal Court to help? We need the FBI or Scotland Yard to help us investigate high crimes and corrupt acts! All corruption is not about money, as now some undermine our laws, constitution and our democracy. Some 40 years ago Gaddafi liberated his people, now he kills them with “no mercy and no pity”. It proves that over time even good men go bad. The 2012 election is time to make changes.

For years we agonised over equal justice. We now have one for the rich, another for the poor, and politicians just bypass both! They are above our laws, rules and taxes. They flout the law on disclosure, but are never arrested. They are incorrigible!

The drama being acted out in the Manatt Enquiry is important but it is the soft option. We fell for the politicians’ ploy by cheering or jeering the

serve-and-volley game and keeping score. This distraction from affairs of state and production is painful, but it got the column inches and we took our eye off the important things. Let us get back on track! Politicians in the audience are on full pay; should all workers be given time off to attend? Popcorn and “pepper schwims” all round! The enquiry is a sop to defuse our call for change; it’s a black hole to swallow our energy and assert the primacy of politics over justice. It feeds the prurience of activists; a soap opera with full cast, script, make-up and costumes. Some players are like Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream – just farce; some are backstabbers as in Julius Caesar. Enjoy the sound and fury, but will it benefit the nation?

What will come of this enquiry? What do you expect? What will we get for our $40m? Will we get laws to expel or jail politicians who break the law or act against the public interest, who seek office knowing they are illegals? Will we get answers? Did anyone order the massacre of the 73? Who? Why was Mr Clarke killed? Where are the “disappeared”? We ape the Westminster system but in reality our politicians “manage” our democracy to their own ends! Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is also a democracy!

Do our media and the commentariat desire justice? Why not expose this charade? Why is the third sector, civil society, silent? Last year’s stockpile of resentment will undermine our community, unity, production and breed crime into the future! Families won’t forget they got no justice; scores are not settled and there is no closure! The poppyshow enquiry does not touch these. We must bring ministers, party officers, MPs before the courts. Who was the mastermind? Who colluded? The willing who did the work? The JCF needs many investigators but who will investigate them? The FBI investigates even the president, as in the US no one is above the law. We want a proactive DPP, a brain-led, elite police force for major crimes and political crimes and a majority of new MPs in Parliament to change things for the better. Till then, I grieve for my nation!

The Ragashanti issue is the latest to push our ethics button. He breaks new ground as we must encourage all our people to do in their own fields. Why ask people to innovate then hobble them when they do? The state must know to channel innovation to those who use it or appreciate it and protect those who do not. We have a history of JLP governments banning books and silencing people from Marx to Walter Rodney. Bruce, you were there, you know! Bans just pump up desire, push up demand and price for the item. The solution is to classify media products, not ban them. All media – live acts, film, video, song, voice, image and print broadcasts should be classified. The X-rated ( violence, horror, sexually explicit) should be aired in adult venues and after a “watershed” time on TV and radio. In the UK this watershed is 9 pm, the time when kids should be in bed. Why not Ragashanti at midnight? All X-rated material is on the top shelf in shops. Adult CDs, videos, posters, etc, are clearly marked and in a separate section of the shop by law. Some say we should put such things in book form as Jamaicans do not read! We have all the right entities but not the wisdom to manage our affairs! Stay conscious, friend!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK.

franklinjohnston@hotmail.com