BY: Yves R. Ephraim

I observed with great interest, the public pronouncements and verbal fisticuffs of individuals who lead very important public institutions both in our country and in the region.

It started with the president of the CCJ being embroiled in accusations of misbehaviour by his own colleagues.

I then witnessed our own Prime Minister get ambushed by a deluge of remonstrations from the local and regional legal fraternities for misspeaking.

The PM dared to criticize and threaten a sitting judge with possible deportation which was swiftly matched with a barrage of pronouncements accusing the PM with interference and threatening the collective “independence” of the judiciary. They even demanded a retraction.

The Prime Minister, nonetheless remains unapologetic.

The PM then attempted to circumvent the local bar association, calling them “defunct” and seeking to appoint his own “independent” jurists to examine his claim of the practice of lenient sentencing for violent crimes.

Frankly, we can spend hours debating the relative merits of each party’s position, but when I look at the bigger picture, all I see are peacocks spreading their feathers. It is a lot of posturing.

What is playing out before us is the progressive collapse of our governance system both in the region and in Antigua and Barbuda in particular.

At war are two institutions that have long since lost their accountability to the people. In some countries they work in lock-step with each other while in others they are at war with each other, but none work for the people.

Each of these institutions are always ready to put up a stout response in defense of their own but remain “mum” when one of their own falls short of the rules.

For example, a minister of government can escape culpability when that ministry is found to be involved in fraudulent dealings with doctored checks or the conversion of government vehicles to private use, while at the same time subordinates are named and shamed. In most cases those named and shamed are hit on the wrist and sent back to work.

The President of the CCJ is outnumbered but yet he remains defiant and is allowed to ignore the grave accusations while being obsessed about how was the TRUTH leaked.

When a certain prominent lawyer was implicated in the falsification of legal documents a few years ago, there was no condemnation of that behaviour nor disciplinary action taken against that member by the Bar Association. There was no need then to protect the integrity of the fraternity.

I have been searching my mind to see if there has ever been any local lawyer who has ever been censured or disbarred for misbehaviour. I cannot think of any. Maybe you can share an example you know.

As you can see the modus operandi has always been that there is ONE rule for the institutions of governance and justice and ANOTHER for the rest of us. What has been revealed about the goings on with the CCJ, has brought to light accusations of misbehaviour that Caribbean people around the region have always feared.

For some, what has been brought to light with the CCJ has validated the repeated rejection of the CCJ as the final appellate court for most of our islands.

With questionable practices rampant in the institutions of the state, it was a matter of time that these would eventually trickle down to corrupt the ordinary resident.

The escalation of violent crimes in Antigua and Barbuda and the apparent ineffectiveness of local law enforcement should be no surprise. In fact, is was inevitable.

Did the leadership of this country not openly instruct criminals to dispose of their weapons involved in crimes and not to turn them in to the police?

Did that not embolden criminals to continue to commit more violent crimes?

Any student of history who has studied the rise and fall of states and empires, knows that the escalation of violent crimes is the final condition of a state that has been progressively devaluing the rule-of-law. Countries seldom recover once they have gotten to this stage. It will only get worse.

Rome is a prime example of a country in antiquity whose society first failed morally at the institutional level then disintegrated into an immoral society where people were thrown into arenas with lions for entertainment. Ubiquitous violence is the ultimate indicator of a morally bankrupt society.

In a properly governed country, the people rely on a healthy tension between the executive branch of government, law enforcement, the judiciary and the legislature. Each holding each other accountable.

When these institutions function independently, the people are generally well served; there is peace; and the rule of law prevails at all levels.

I contend that in the case of Antigua and Barbuda, for the last 45 years, the lines have been progressively blurred between the various branches of government to the extent of giving the impression that the executive branch of government has captured the functions of law enforcement; the judiciary and the legislature to some degree.

In my opinion this capture has led to a progressive degradation in the rule of law that has spanned my sixty plus years of existence.

Over the years, I have concluded from the pattern of behaviour of the police force, that its purpose is not to protect the people but rather to protect the ruling administration at any cost.

Dystopian images come to mind of how the police used overwhelming force against peaceful protesters who did not agree with the draconian Covid-19 Mandates that threatened to leave them jobless and financially ruined. There was absolutely no compassion or restraint. The police force has no understanding that they are there to protect the constitutional rights and liberties of ordinary people.

It appears that the police force’s only purpose has been the harassment of dissidents and the taking down of peaceful protesters. I have never seen, in my sixty plus years, the police force acting independently based on evidence to arrest a sitting government official for wrong doing. I have seen police officers arrest ordinary citizens for indecent language but somehow lose their hearing when a minister of government utters the same indecent language publicly.

To guarantee the absolute allegiance of the police force to the government, police officers were deliberately recruited from other countries at the exclusion of Antiguans and Barbudans over the years. This is a practice that is very unique to Antigua and Barbuda in this region.

I watched how the police force was allowed to be relegated to the singular role of crushing all actions and protests against the government. Be it “The Teachers’ Strike” or the right of the AWU to be recognized as a Trade Union like the AT&LU.

Outside of this, the force was left to languish to the extent that it lost its ability to do basic policing work.

The force cannot even enforce basic traffic laws; patrol or solve petty crimes. How many of you remember the days when you were told that no vehicle was available to respond to crime.

There is common knowledge of the long, long list of unsolved crimes in Antigua and Barbuda. I need not enumerate those here.

The police force has been repeatedly accused of partiality in the application of the law and have done very little to dispel that reputation. Politicians could flaunt or break the law with impunity without a squeak from the police high command.

When suspicions abound of possible embezzlement, land swaps or misbehaviour by public officials, the police conveniently recuse itself. The police leadership would never dare intervene.

However, if instructed by the leadership of the government they will pursue individuals as instructed even when there is no prima facie case. The Canadians tried to reform the force to no avail.

We have too many outstanding cases of extra-judicial killings by law enforcement officers that have not been adjudicated for years.

Can you imagine what will follow after most police officers are given guns?

May the Lord have mercy on us all!

Given all this, do you wonder why there is such break down of the rule of law and order in Antigua and Barbuda?

In Antigua and Barbuda’s 45 years it has been involved in more scandals than we care to admit. Scandal after scandal!

We had:

– The Airport Runway Scandal,

– The IHI Scandal

– The Guns to Apartheid South Africa Scandal

– Various allegations of Ministers of government having inappropriate relationships with underaged girls

– The Gun Running Scandal

– The Medical Benefit Scandal

– Vehicle-gate Scandal

– Guiana Island Scandal

– Barbuda Hurricane Relief Funds Scandal

– Hurricane Luis Relief Scandal

– Lee Boyd Malvo Scandal I am sure I missed a lot more that you can fill in.

Most of these scandals never led to the responsible persons being punished. Some have even gotten pardons before punishment was even administered.

Here again the rule of law and order was despised and considered secondary by those at the institutional level.

Every time law and order was devalued, the moral fabric of the country deteriorated.

The mindset that promoted the lack of enforcement of the rule of law and order contaminated almost every institution.

We have seen our electoral process redefine “gifts for votes” as mere charity under the pretext of giving assistance to those in need. Those that were given oversight of the electoral process appear powerless and immobilized to do anything.

This corruption of the electoral process has become almost the norm, eventually corrupting the people into preferring gifts rather than good governance.

Here again is another sign of the degradation of the rule of law and order.

How long can the rule of law be repeatedly ignored at the highest level before the population then builds resentment for law and order?

The abandonment of the rule of law reveals itself in even little things like littering, inconsiderate road users, lewd behaviour at Carnival, etc, etc.

Even the disregard for decorum by political leaders who are then edged on by their supporters to double-down on their despicable behaviour. Ironically the same politicians then accuse workers of bad behaviour and lack of work ethic.

It is therefore little wonder why there would be a total breakdown in morals, resulting in violent crimes.

We see in the history of Rome that the country rotted from the head first then down to the average man.

When the general population becomes comfortable with immorality and corruption, then violent criminals have no fear of hiding among the population because no one will have the desire to “rat out” the criminal. Further making crimes very hard to solve.

The years of wanton and open corruption at the highest levels with impunity has produced a country where the specter of criminals colluding with rogue law enforcement officers can never be ruled out. It should therefore come as no surprise why we have a total breakdown in law and order. This is the natural end-state of countries that have not prioritized the rule of law and order for decades.

We fool ourselves into thinking that removing guns completely from the society will eliminate violent crime.

Do you really think that a gun fires itself?

Do you actually think that removing guns will stop the violent crimes?

I contend that even if the government were able to remove every gun from our environment, individuals will still find other means to commit violent crimes. It is not the fault of the gun, but rather the culture of lawlessness that has been stoked at the highest level over time.

England, for example is battling knife crimes in the absence of guns.

Antigua and Barbuda, as much as I hate to admit it, is in the last throes of a national moral decline.

We know that when:

1. Ministers of government are commended for open lewd behaviour at Carnival;

2. Ministries of government are non-functional and the minister responsible is treated as a hero while the staff is vilified;

3. Laws are altered specifically to confiscate private property: Alpha Nero, Barbuda among others;

4. The people of your country have been singled out and banned or to be banned from travelling to the US and EU.

5. The government has failed to present the national accounts to the people;

6. Creative enrichment prevails.

7. We are willing to take on so-called “refugees” that we are ill-prepared to accommodate, even at the risk to our national security.

8. Only lip service is given to the rule of law at the highest levels;

9. The Minister for Law and Order who should be chairing the meeting with law enforcement agencies has nothing meaningful to contribute yet is being treated as if he is doing a good job.

No one should be surprised of the escalating violent crimes. The writing has been on the wall for a long time now! The chickens have come home to roost.

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: OPINION: You Wonder Why Violent Crime is on the Increase?.