By D.C. Gisele Isaac
They’ve been trying too hard, the prime minister and his minions, and one has to wonder why transparent operations have need of so much cover.
It was only the other day, in the wake of a stay by the US Federal Judge, that these folks were declaring victory over the Opposition and telling their own supporters that the “Movants” objecting to the Alfa Nero subpoenas had been vindicated.
The lie was threefold: First, there was no victory; merely a regular court procedure. Second, there has been no vindication, since there’s been no trial. And third, this thing about the Opposition as whoever has been, as nothing about the yacht – from ill-advised huffing to private dealings with indemnity – has ever involved the United Progressive Party or me.
The sad thing here is that the prime minister and his acolytes, especially his spokespersons, know this. But they have chosen to exploit the ignorance and blind loyalty of their supporters in a way that is both despicable and dangerous.
It is not an exaggeration to say the prime minister seems willing to ignite a civil war of sorts – sacrificing people who are uninformed but probably well meaning – in order to protect himself, his wife, his son, and their associated interests. And I’m gratified that other people have seen it and spoken out against it, recognizing that it is the first step on a slippery slope we will not be able to climb up. (Thank you, Mr Bandele.)
Instead of using the resources they control, such as ABS-TV, their private radio stations, and their social media outlets to educate their people on the realities of the matter – what a “stay” means, for instance, and the fact that the Government, itself, is not implicated – the prime minister, et al, have chosen to lie, by both omission and commission, to the people whop believe them most. For shame!
Instead of the red-mouth cobbler of Cabinet Notes, the private senior counsel, the attorney general, and the minister of public works putting their law degrees (at least three of them) to good use educating the public, they chose, instead, to foment political strife.
As Sir Cutie, himself used to proclaim, the use of language to deceive is a reprehensible act. And so, the skeptics add, is the use of spreadsheets. So, double shame!!
I remember, in my undergraduate years, having to watch a particular movie in my screenwriting class. It was about two European nationalities living in an African country, and who, having had a falling-out, decided to settle their dispute with a battle. But, both sides being white, they could not bring themselves to harm their own kind; and so each side armed their local servants – the Africans who had no quarrel among themselves – and set a date for them to fight each other and settle the Europeans’ score…
This is exactly what the prime minister and company are doing: Inciting citizens and residents, red and blue, who are all vulnerable to the possible failure of these court cases – from shouldering the cost of legal defense to compromised travel or economic activity – while the Movants, themselves, sit high and safe in their walled and guarded premises and watch the fools kill their brothers and sisters, and then face police, courthouse, and jail for their efforts.
But it will not stop there, make no mistake, for such action will breed retaliation; and the Movants, too, will be overwhelmed in these 108 square miles with not enough space to hide – not even under their spreadsheets….
A civil war is nothing to play with, Mr Prime Minister.
It is not lost on me nor on many discerning citizens that the man at the centre of this legal contretemps is attempting to paint a target on my chest in order to cover his lies and accusations are intended to manipulate the gullible into believing that the Opposition Party and, particularly, the chairman and leader, wield so much power that they can influence not only a Russian heiress endowed with beaucoup rubles, but a US Federal Court judge to boot.
The man who has steered the ship of state into an immovable iceberg is trying to convince the frightened passengers that it is the fault of the bystanders who were waving and shouting frantically from the shoreline. If this is not mental illness, then it must be sheer deviltry and desperation.
As if the attempt to engender physical harm to members of the Opposition were not bad enough, there is the added threat of using law-enforcement to achieve the bitter end the Movants apparently want to see. Talk about sedition and treason they are a calculated move to goad the police into saying “to hell with the Constitution” and its Bill of Rights and rounding up all of us who have committed the grave crime of “criticism in the first degree.”
Make this into a police state, a dictatorship, a place where neighbours turn informers, and trust and freedom become words from another era. That appears to be the self-covering, self-serving plan.
We see you, and we hear you, Mr Prime Minister. In fact, thanks to your ill-advised move this time, the whole world sees and hears you. You learned nothing from the scandals that preceded the Alfa Nero saga, since we appeared to have sailed smoothly through. Oldebrecht, FTX, the Dark Web trader, the shady Asian investors, and all the self-enrichment schemes that have kept the Cabinet doors shut and the members’ mouths stopped. But, now, the world is seeing us and hearing us, and – whatever the ultimate destination of this yacht charter – you will never be unwatched again.
