We need strong , vibrant and non aligned civil society groups

No government ever, including the current JLP administration should be given unfettered access to power as we all know power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The opposition party is meant to provide some sort of accountability meter to check on and report on issues in government that are inimical to a proper functioning democracy, they are expected to hold the government accountable at all times.

Civil society groups on the other hand plays a slightly different role, where they too seek to hold government accountable however their focus has no political agenda, and is purely about pushing for greater accountability and better governance .

What has happened over the years however, is persons who seemingly are politically aligned, but wants to operate under cover, has infiltrated the civil society groups and have now become the faces and voices of these groups. They have moved away from being objective and now seem to swing depending on who is involved, to determine if the respond and if they do, the type of response that is given.

Let’s examine a few recent cases.

A week ago word news emerged that a serial rapist had his life sentence cut to 15 years on appeal. Initially civil society commentators were livid on this “injustice” but as soon as word emerged that one of their own Dionne Jackson Miller, the moral and ethical police was the lawyer who had successfully argued the case, the outrage fizzled to a whisper and then silence .

How can any group which is said to support higher moral and ethical standards can suddenly stop speaking on a matter that has shocked the country given the cruel and abhorrent nature of the crime, as if they don’t want to offend the attorney involved. Why were they outraged in the first place, did the issue that caused them to be outrage change and if not so, why have they gone mute?

Have civil society decided that issues like these no longer warrant their outrage and if so, why and who should we look to for answers from the judiciary.

Why civil society groups have not continued to speak and demand that our judges get back around the table and modify these sentencing guidelines given the Jamaican reality and the need to send a VERY STRONG signal to CRIMINALS.

To say I am deeply DISSAPOINTED in these groups would be a gross understatement in how I truly feel, in fact I am compelled to say they have been DERILICT in their responsibility and have now been severely compromised, making it very difficulty for them to regain the trust of the public.

Once again we see the emergence of two society and unequal application of outrage as it been a different lawyer from Dionne Jackson Miller the outrage would have continued.

I will not even bother to cite the other cases as I am so upset about the turn of events in this one, just read the Jamaica Observer of today of the report where the young victim spoke.

The public therefore demand that these groups remove themselves as the face of moral , ethics and accountability police and new and truly independent people step forward who we can trust to speak on matters and not be worried about the issue of partisan politics guiding those comments.

Jamaica deservers better than what we are currently getting

Bless