We have watched, admittedly with some amusement, the contretemps between the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP) Administration over the cost of the Tivoli Commission of Enquiry, which is shortly to resume its hearings.

Not surprisingly, charges by the Opposition that the cost of the enquiry is too exorbitant has been met with counter-charges by the Government that the JLP does not want the enquiry, hence the noise it is making.

We are probably not the only ones who suspect that what is happening is pure partisan politics being played out by the two major parties, with both hoping to gain, or at least not lose, public relations mileage.

In the tit-for-tat game, the PNP has invoked the cost of the Finsac Commission of Enquiry, which was undertaken by the previous JLP Administration ostensibly to find the reason for the financial meltdown of the economy, which plunged many businesses into bankruptcy in the mid-90s.

We can’t help but sense that the PNP did not want the Finsac Commission, in the same way that the JLP does not want the Tivoli Enquiry that is supposed to determine if any wrongdoing by State occurred during the police/military operations in May 2010 to apprehend Tivoli strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke who was wanted by the United States on charges of gunrunning and drug-trafficking.

If our cynicism is on point, then it is the tax-paying people of Jamaica who are the victims of a high-stake game that will amount to nothing of substance.

Notice that the Finsac report has not yet been written, which reinforces our suspicions. Neither is it likely to be written any time soon, as no money is anywhere in the budget for its completion.

Ordinarily, both the FInsac and Tivoli commissions ought to provide the Jamaican public with valuable information which, hopefully, should assist in preventing the disaster which triggered them in the first place.

From an economic standpoint, the financial meltdown represented a tsunami of sorts, that destroyed the confidence of local entrepreneurs, a confidence which is only now beginning to return. There are claims that some of the affected businessmen fell ill or have died from the strain of the losing their companies and life’s work.

Viewed from a national security standpoint, the operation to arrest Coke, shook the country in a manner unprecedented for its stark attack on the forces of law and order when criminal gunmen massed on Tivoli to prevent the security forces from capturing their hero.

They mounted barricades, burnt police stations, and terrified the nation. When the smoke cleared, at least 70 people were killed, including members of the security forces.

Nations which are serious about themselves need the truth behind these developments to inform the quality of their future, at least to reassure their people that things would be put in place to prevent their recurrence. It is this possibility that the parties appear to be squandering on the altar of political expedience in this battle of the Commissions of Enquiry.