For the Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr the Rt Honourable Keith Mitchell, to declare nationally and internationally that (1) he broke the law to do what he thinks is “morally” right and (2) that the Commissioner of Police cannot tell him what to do, he is institutionalising lawlessness and placing himself, and/or the Office of the Prime Minister above the law.
The state of Grenada is under the powers of a Constitution, and that Constitution does not place anyone, or any office, above the law. Therefore, the Prime Minister, as head of government, should be seeking to uphold the tenets of the Constitution and every law of the land. He is instead misusing the privileges of the Office of the Prime Minister and displaying contempt for the Constitution which gives the people of the country the right, to let him serve.
You are a servant of the people, Sir, not a master, and you cannot make up the rules as you go along. The country is not ruled by decree, but by laws.
The Prime Minister does not have the right to break the law – for any reason whatsoever, and if he does, he should be held accountable, just like every other citizen.
The law that he has broken is that workers within the public service must take their vacation, or when it accumulates over a period of time, they will lose it – there are no exceptions. No worker is to be paid for vacation while on the job, that’s the law, the Prime Minister said so. But he proceeds to say he broke the law because the 14 members of his security detail and the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit CANNOT GO ON VACATION, and it would be “morally wrong” for them to lose their vacation. So, he decided they should be paid, contrary to the law.
In addition to breaking the law, the Prime Minister has also displayed 100% mistrust in the Commissioner of Police that he has chosen. The Constitution gives the right to the Prime Minister to select the person to be appointed Chief of Police, and if he does not trust the person he has selected, then an explanation is needed, and or that person replaced.
Who better than the Commissioner of Police, who would know the strengths and weaknesses of the members of the Royal Grenada Police Force, to choose a proper team for the personal security of the Prime Minister?
And if the PM cannot trust the Commissioner with that task, then does he trust the COP to secure the rest of the nation? Or why should the rest of the nation trust the Commissioner with their lives and safety if the Prime Minister doesn’t? Or is it that the Prime Minister is unlike the rest of the population and is the Napoleon of George Orwell’s “Animal farm” – All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others?
How can law enforcement officers then seek to apprehend anyone else in this country who decides to break the law, if they have a justifiable reason for so doing? The precedent has been set. And if the Prime Minister can do it, then the door is open for anyone to do it. This cannot be a land of “do as I say, but not as I do”, Grenada must be a country of laws, not a country of men.
Laws are made in the Parliament where the Prime Minister is a member, and if he believes there is a law which is detrimental to public workers, then table an amendment to allow for the requisite discussion and changes. This would of course have its own complications as far as management of the public sector is concerned, but that would be the action to take if there is need for changing the law. The Cabinet, singularly or collectively, under the Constitution, does not have authority to make or change laws.
The Prime Minister in the same breath when he announced that he has taken the law into his own hands and broken it, is calling on carnival revellers to party within the law, calling on the same police officers that he does not trust, to enforce the laws that will reduce the lewdness in carnival celebrations. Does he trust that the police officers will carry out their duties as they should, or that revellers will obey the law that he chooses to break at will?
There is always a bigger picture, and when the floodgate of lawlessness has been opened there is no turning back. If lawlessness is institutionalised by the Head of Government, the state of Grenada is descending into a place where it will become unmanageable.
People in positions of authority and leadership must first demonstrate that they have respect for laws and institutions which have been put in place for a democracy to function. If at the level where leadership is expected, people are “doing as they please”, then from where do the examples come, for the rest of the society?