Editorial – March 14, 2014 :
Governor Adrian Davis has particularly over the last few weeks faced much criticism and some pressure to do what he has come to hear so much in recent times, “Do the right thing”. It is somewhat surprising since he has more often than not, agreed that this should always be the way to go.
He may have been somehow blind-sided by some another type of pressure whereby he is required to do something to stem the tide of what he and others around him believe is a “too litigious society”. Only recently another close-by him official called it a new sport, which they claim is, “taking the Government to Court.” They get the same answer all the time, “Do the right thing at the beginning.”
When Governor Davis was challenged that he obviously did not carry out due process in the Inspectors demotion matter, he surprisingly could only say that he had seen documentation, that we suspect aided him to come to his decision, which if he had not been blind-sided, or for that matter deliberately misguided, he would have known that constitutionally he was mis-stepping.
The Attorney General’s Chambers, the ministry of justice/laws, there is their partners in the administration of the laws, the police. The media knew immediately that something had gone amiss, once the surface facts to which they were privy were checked. The Governor must have believed that his information/advice was good. Unfortunately he must only now be aware of circumstances which were less than honourable, alerted by suggestions of bad practice in the Inspectors attorney Brandt’s letter.
So much ‘more’ have come to light that does question the integrity of the management of our police and others over which the Governor has direct oversight and hopefully the Governor in doing his due diligence may well find in the matter of the Inspectors and in other situations, he may have to call on some to step down or leave all together.
The Governor is in an article appearing in this issue, is himself the subject of recall.
What we hope is that the Governor will take a step back and remove some scales and realise the fact he along with DFID have found it prudent to up the ‘education’ of our senior civil servants in their practice of administrative management. Then if they are receptive enough he will not have to be seeking to deter the concerns he has over what he continuously refers to as a ‘litigious people.’
The Premier sometime last year did not answer the leader of the oppositions question regarding his seeming reluctance to consult with heads of departments when modifying or enacting laws pertinent to their departments. He responded that these people must read and understand the rules that govern them and the work they are called on to carry out.
But it is worse than that in some instances. On at least one occasion we learnt that when the Attorney General’s chambers on request opine and advise on the law, there are those who declare that the AG’s office does not understand the law and their own instructions which run contrary must be carried out.
The Governor then must find himself in a bad way, but it is also his duty and that of others who act in a similar capacity, that they have the obligation to: “allow the person who is the subject of a decision to know the case against him. Otherwise he cannot properly defend himself, and cannot effectively persuade the decision-maker that his information is inaccurate or exaggerated, or at any rate does not justify an adverse decision.”
This all has to do with communication and consultation. It is how these unseen circumstances are avoided. The truth is this little island is doing very poorly along these lines. We did not expect the Governor’s office to fall prey to that.
