No case to answer! (Although, to be fair, the DPP is fighting back.)
Which should mean, there was no breach of trust. And yet the individuals were deprived, for years, of their good names, their reputations and standing in the community and amongst family and peers.
How do you recoup those tangibles when time has moved on? Do we call on Cher? Her unfulfilled wish was “If I could turn back time.”
Should we bring in the mythical ‘Wonder Woman’ who was constantly commanding “time, turn back and in your flight, show me….?”
Or must we look to Joshua of biblical times who commanded the sun and moon to stand still; In essence, stopping time.
Perhaps the real question surrounds whether the justice system is failing us. Are the police and the judiciary up to the task? We know that law and order, the penal system and the administration of the courts are the Governor’s responsibility.
Is that institution letting down His Majesty’s loyal subjects? The record speaks, loudly, for itself.
Is it ok if the Governor’s departments are not performing up to snuff? We knew from the COI that His Majesty’s functionaries were trusted to ‘measure up’ where they fell short so that awful ‘C’ word was not one with which they had to grapple.
And what about the lone COI Commissioner? Would he acknowledge the collateral damage that can be created when, not knowing much about a Territory, its people are pushed outside boxes of reason to conform to an existing blueprint?
We always thought the COI was useful but we were put out with the antiquated approach to marginalizing an existing population in the process. Its staging felt like the historical account of the Christopher Columbus visit to the new world.
Perchance, does our judicial system have a case to answer? The community still reels from shock over some decisions of the court that underscores the inefficiency, and in some cases, incompetence of the system. Or is it ineptitude?
In that vein, it is likely that eyewitnesses to crime would close eyes, ears and mouths for reasons of personal safety. But policing is the business of the entire community so how would that work?
Perhaps the system is ripe for review; A commission of inquiry? Or are they only reserved to punish wayward politicians and their stooges?
Might it even be the case that the public administrators are seeing a picture that the public cannot see, hence our lack of understanding? We may as well ask that mid 1980s rock band, “The Waterboys.”
“I saw the crescent.
You saw the whole of the moon!
The whole of the moon!”
All we know for sure is that, day by day, the complexity of the Territory deepens and the jobs of the functionaries of state become more critical to our safety, security and survival.
But lawlessness, nowadays, is becoming as predictable as the rising and setting of the sun. Lives and livelihoods hang in the balance.
Somehow, it seems a challenge for our ministers, including the minister for national security, to translate words into actions to fulfill the promises and oaths they have made for the benefit of the people.
But the world order has changed. Trump is back with his promise to make America great again and that nation is already on a collision course with internal ideologies and values.
Is it one nation under God, Money, or Trump?
What is a man? Who qualifies to be a woman? When are you a citizen? Is there a right to asylum?
What about the real consequences to global security, health, climate (or weather) and human interactions? And the opportunities to stop the impoverishing of Americans to settle the global balance sheet; Would the end justify the means?
There must be a follow-up to Bretton Woods.
So, in all the turmoil and uncertainty, of course we are happy when there is something to celebrate. And last weekend, in style and red-carpet pomp, a BVI icon and household name, Patsy Lake, marked four score years on earth.
It is impossible to think of the commercial development of the central business district without Patsy’s name in the narrative. After all, most things that she touches turn to gold.
And, by her account, she was ‘in the room’ and made positive contributions to the struggle for Wickhams Cay. But we leave that to the historians.
Nevertheless, we wish Ms Lake a happy birthday with many more productive ones to come.
It is still January of 2025 and our Fridays are off to a pensive start.
Happy Friday!