Sell Out

The graffiti has been daubed on strategically selected walls in some urban ghetto areas.  The calls have been echoed in Parliament. Now they have found their way into the legal posturings in the Manatt Commission of Enquiry.  

The accusation is simple: Dr. Peter Phillips as Minister of National Security has sold out the constitutional rights of Jamaicans to the United States. This he has done by signing the mystery MOU's.  The charge is serious and hurtful. Peter Phillips has always been a nationalist at heart. It was reported that he was once a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel - Bungo Peter wore tam and sandals and uttered black conscious lyrics.  Peter Phillips was a social scientist and an ardent follower of Michael Norman Manley. He was once General Secretary of the People's National Party and held ministerial positions both in the Michael Manley and P.J. Patterson led regimes. 

In his testimony, Phillips said that he had obtained the legal opinion of the then Solicitor General Michael Hylton. Later he said that the Solicitor General vetted the MOU's before they were signed. Hugh Small Q.C. in his cross examination of the now Security Minister Dwight Nelson has elicited evidence that the proper course is for the AG based upon the advice of the SG to inform the Minister in respect of legal matters. Well both the then AG A.J. Nicholson QC and the then Solicitor General Michael Hylton are available to the Commission.  The Commissioners are duty bound to call upon them to clarify the situation. In addition as portrayed by Clovis' cartoon, it may be useful if the insights of the then Prime Minister, Most Honourable P.J. Patterson QC be brought to bear on the purported secrecy of the deal.  

Bluntly if Phillips sold out then he was not alone in this venture.  It is very dangerous to leave these accusations hanging out there.

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Monday's Molotov

In our post Leys Lullaby, we had questioned the role of Solicitor General Douglas Leys.

After initially refusing the gratuitous offer made by the representative of MPP to attend the scheduled meeting of US State Department and Justice Department officials with GOJ officials, he was subsequently convinced to allow the representative to accompany the Jamaican delegation. We had wondered who or what convinced the SG to change his mind. After all has admitted on radio to include Jamaican attorney Harold Brady would have been improper.

Our information from a most reliable source is that the SG was in constant telephonic contact with government officials in Jamaica. On the first day of what has been dubbed the "Dudus Enquiry" we have been provided with the answer.

Coye testified that in December 2009, she went to the residence of Jamaican ambassador to Washington, Anthony Johnson, and that attorney Harold Brady was present together with an attorney from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. She said that she later learned that the attorney was named Kevin Di Gregory.

She said that Deputy Solicitor General Lackston Robinson had told her that the lawyer would be a part of the Jamaican delegation to meet with US State Department and Justice Department officials, which included her, himself and Solicitor General Douglas Leys.

Coye further testified that Robinson told her Leys had included the Manatt lawyer in the delegation because he understood US law and understood the thinking of the Justice Department, being a former employee there.

The ambassador said she objected because there was no approval from Foreign Minister Ken Baugh or Dorothy Lightbourne, justice minister and attorney general. However, she said that when she confronted Leys, he told her that Lightbourne had given permission to expand the delegation.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Manatt-was-working-for-gov-t-on-Dudus---testimony#ixzz1BK1RaVB9

 This raises a number of questions:

• Was the Solicitor General speaking the truth, when he said on radio that the gratuitous offer was extended merely hours before the scheduled meeting?
• Was the Attorney General speaking the truth when she said that the first time she heard of the firm MPP was when the matter was raised in parliament?
• Did the Solicitor General seek and obtain the authority of the Attorney General Lightbourne before he accepted the gratuitous offer?
• What consideration was given to the objections by the officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the initial reservations of the Solicitor General?
• Did the Attorney General inform the Prime Minister of the inclusion of MPP along with the GOJ delegation?
• Were the Attorney General and the Prime Minister briefed as to the outcome of the meetings with the US govt. officials and the GOJ delegation which included the representative from MPP?
• Was there a post meeting conference at the law offices of MPP?
• If yes, what role did the MPP representative play in those post meeting discussions?

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