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“[…] Where is the evidence of a PNM-inspired political conspiracy in the charging of Mr David Lee? He who alleges must prove.
“[…] Patriotic, sober-minded, and mature thinking citizens who are imbued with copious wisdom, no doubt would realise that nothing should be said or done that could lead, inadvertently, to a racial conflagration…”
The following Letter to the Editor on the UNC’s response to criminal charges against Opposition deputy political leader David Lee was submitted to Wired868 by Louis W Williams of St Augustine:
(Copyright Office of the Parliament 2021)
I am appalled at the response of of the UNC to the charges laid by the Police, on Friday 16th September 2022, against Mr David Lee—the UNC’s deputy political leader and chief whip.
In our country, in law, there is the presumption of innocence (that is a man/woman is innocent until he/she is proven guilty in a court of law). I have no problem with that legal doctrine, and Mr Lee will have his day in court.
The UNC, in a media release, indicated that the charges against Mr Lee were: “[…] a deliberate, calculated and well-timed distraction by agents of the PNM to save the Government from unrelenting condemnation by the population”, and that this nefarious strategy was typical PNM behaviour aided and abetted by “complicit operatives within the Police Service”.
In this regard, it is noteworthy that T&T Express journalist, Mr Alexander Bruzual, in his article on 16 September 2022, stated: “Investigators approached officials at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions today for instructions on how to proceed, and they were told that the two charges were to be laid against Lee.”
Roger Gaspard SC.
(Copyright Roger Jacob/ Trinidad Newsday)
Surely if there is a PNM-inspired political conspiracy to charge Mr Lee, then the Office of the DPP must be a party to that conspiracy, since the TTPS took instructions from that office.
Where is the evidence of a PNM-inspired political conspiracy in the charging of Mr Lee? He who alleges must prove.
This course of action that the UNC has embarked upon is regrettable in our highly racially polarised nation, in the context of political affiliation. The voting patterns over several decades bear testimony to that state of affairs.
Patriotic, sober-minded, and mature thinking citizens who are imbued with copious wisdom, no doubt would realise that nothing should be said or done that could lead, inadvertently, to a racial conflagration—as we have observed, via the media, is rife in other countries with ethnic/racial polarisation.
(Copyright UNC)
The loss of lives, trauma, untold damage to the social fabric, and the devastating impact on the economy, in those countries, have been horrific. There were no winners. Those countries were rendered ungovernable in the immediate aftermath of the conflagration, and for some considerable time thereafter.
The current matter concerning Mr Lee must be deftly handled, and requires astute leadership and a calm resolve. The well-being of the nation demands no less. Let us not play with fire.
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You will be making a sad mistake in trying to ascribe logic let alone real world common sense to the things that the UNC and it’s many actors are saying/doing. Their public actions and utterances are purely design to respond to situations like what Mr Lee and others are being asked to account for. This is not about the land slips/pot holes/cost of living/plight of poor people (just look at the cost of the vehicle in question) and the myriad issues that they raise on a weekly basis. All valid concerns I must say. But for them it is all about self preservation and very little about their constituents. Get use to it….there are many more like these to come and cries of political victimization will only grow louder.