By *Jomo Sanga Thomas
(“Plain Talk” Jan.31, 2025)
“The poor and ordinary workers among us have never really lived. They spend their entire lives preparing to live. And then they die.” — Maxim Gorky.
Gorky’s statement is true of workers everywhere, but the Russian writer’s statement has a particular resonance in SVG. The majority of our population is either poor or hard-working. Most grind out a living and find it exceedingly difficult to keep body and soul together. Even when they are wronged, the system conspires to deny them everything, including elementary justice.
Michelle Andrews is exhibit A. A young woman joined the police force to make ends meet. On one faithful November morning in 2008, she was confronted by the most powerful political figure in our country. Her assigned task was to protect and secure his family. He cared nothing about her except for an apparent animalistic desire.
From that day on, Andrews’ life changed for the worse. Exposed by the most powerful as the person who accused him of sexual assault and rape, she was failed by the police high command and condemned by a significant section of our society who disbelieved her claim. She was labelled an enemy of the state. Only a few among us demanded justice for Michelle Andrews.
A year ago, the overwhelming pressures of life overtook her. She suffered a brain aneurysm.
On Jan. 24, Michelle Andrews, courageous and dignified to the very end, died. Those who bear moral and ethical responsibility for her death mindlessly carry on without the slightest expression of remorse.
More exhibits! Cjea Weekes. In February 2022, Cjea joyously rode past the Questelles Police Station on a motorbike. The police, alleging a traffic violation, began a high-speed chase that ended in Cjea Weekes’ death. Before he died, Cjea told his mom, who worked at the official residence of PM Gonsalves at the time, that the police vehicle landed on him as he lay on a badly eroded road at Twenty Hill. Cjea’s family brought a wrongful death claim against the state. Cjea’s mom is ill and currently fighting for her life in the United States.
A caring power elite would swiftly move to settle the matter so as to bring some relief to the grieving parents and provide some financial assistance to the family. Not this heartless bunch who currently occupy the corridors of power. More than two years after his death, the coroners’ inquest promised by the state to investigate the death of Cjea Weekes has not commenced.
Okeno Fergus collided with state power in March 2019. He was shot by police officer Mohammed Lavia outside a fete in Sandy Bay. He was falsely accused, tried and convicted by state authorities. The Court of Appeal exonerated him. Justice of Appeal Davidson Baptiste, while rendering the Court’s decision, condemned the magistrate, a former police commissioner, for switching the burden of proof from prosecutors to the accused man.
Fergus brought a personal injury claim alleging assault and battery. The state refused to settle. Justice Henry ruled in Fergus’ favour and remarked, “I cannot understand what would drive a police officer to treat a resident of any country in the way Cpl. Lavia behaved towards Mr. Fergus that morning. It was inhumane, merciless, aggressive, high-handed handed and totally undeserved. The court cannot countenance such conduct in a democratic society where
the rule of law pervades the administration of justice and the society. If ever there was a case that attracted exemplary, aggravated and substantial general damages for loss, damage, physical, emotional and mental injury, this one certainly does.”
On Aug. 12, 2022, Mr. Fergus instructed me to write to DPP Sejilla Mc Dowall requesting that she bring charges against Officer Lavia. It was suggested that the officer be charged with wounding with intent and reckless endangerment. The letter was copied to PM Gonsalves as minister of national security and then chief cop Colin John. None of the three state officials acknowledged the letter.
On Jan. 27, 2024, another letter was written to DPP Mc Dowall requesting a fiat from her office that would allow for the private prosecution of Officer Lavia’s reckless, wrongful, and intentional shooting of Okeno Fergus. The letter was copied to PM Gonsalves, minister of national security and acting Commissioner of Police Enville Williams.
Karl Marx correctly said that laws are power in defence of the dominant idea. He could not be more correct. If you need further proof, think about the nurse from Owia who got a slap on the wrist for possessing 60 kilos of cocaine, while a young man from Murray Village got 10 years for 6 kilos.
A young lady from Campden Park was spared jailed time by the magistrate for being in possession of liquid cocaine and ordered to pay a hefty fine. The then DPP would have none of it. The matter was appealed, and she was sentenced to three years. Evidently, the Owia nurse was fronting for someone with connections high up in the state administration.
If you need more evidence of our two-tier system of justice, think about teacher Adriana “Dri’ King, whose case for obstructing the PM’s path to the legislature was dismissed by Magistrate Ballah and promptly appealed by the Director of Public Prosecution. Dri, a stellar teacher from all reports, is denied the opportunity to shape young minds all the while made to struggle economically on half pay.
If you remain unconvinced, we take you back to November 2008 when police officers beat Jemark Jackson into a coma, forcing him to spend seven days in the Intensive Care Unit. The police who were tried and convicted were defiantly reemployed. They remain on the force to this day. Jackson was shot and killed in 2022.
A personal injury claim brought on his behalf in 2009 remains languishing in the courts. The state continues to fight liability, thus denying Jemark’s family just compensation.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said the arc of history is inexorably bent towards justice. Plain Talk does not share such optimism. We draw strength to go on from Julius Malema, a South African revolutionary politician who instructs, “Fighters, we must never get tired. We cannot afford to get tired. If we ever get tired in the fight for justice, the enemy of our people wins.”
*Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator and a former Speaker of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].
If Mr Thomas was still a part of the ulp would he be writing the way he is now ? It is always good to stand firm on your beliefs and to stand up for what is right but isn’t it always best to do so no matter what ? One can only be considered plain and have plain talks when he or she is courageous enough to do so by all means . Being part of a political group etc shouldn’t cause anyone to be silent on issues . So my question is ” if Mr Thomas was still part of the ulp would he be writing the way he is now ” ?
“The enemy of our people always win,” (so it seems) but there is a fair, true, and just God who will stand in the gap and vindicate those victims.
After you, as Speaker of the House, opposed a vote of no confidence, thereby consolidating the ULP’s power, you are now writing all kinds of disparaging remarks about them. Now, they have everything rigged to remain in power indefinitely.
The author was not the original source of the quotation, “Justice delayed is Justice denied”.I referred to his cogent examples of the existence of a two tier Justice System in St Vincent and the Grenadines. These are all good and must be taken for what is says. However, talk is cheap and one notices a remarkable divergence when the Author was put to the tests.
As speaker of the House of Assembly, it was the same author who failed in his duty to bring down the government which was an honorary principle. Jomo the Bible speak about the mote and the beam. Believe it or not that beam is still shining in your eyes and have obscure your vision.
Kenton may not publish this as it speaks volumes of his bosom friend. That is all right though in our world of censorship.