Mahatma Ghandi, with moral force, overcame colonialism in the
British Empire. Colonialism is dead and buried. Correct? Wrong. It is alive and
well in a few far flung corners of the world still under British colonial
subjugation.
From the Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific, to the Turks and
Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, colonial neglect and abuse thrive to this day.
Neglect? Abuse? Where is the evidence?
The majority of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands are
descendants of African slaves. The status of the majority population, from the
standard of education to the economic location of the people of African
descendant relative to the least of minor British civil servants sent to govern
the colony, is that of second to third class citizens. Three million pounds was
donated by Britain in the early 1990s for the building of a new prison, in the
capital, Grand Turk. Meanwhile, dilapidated schools, houses and the hospital in
the capital testify to the shabby attitudes as order British priorities in the
colony. After three hundred years of colonial exploitation there is a just cause
for the shouldering of financial and administrative responsibilities by the
colonial master as might serve meaningfully to lay solid foundations for the
building of a well educated, qualified, adequately housed, and medically healthy
population equipped to meet the economic challenges of the world, when the Union
Jack no longer flies over the fair Isles. It is, and has been, the way of
colonialism, to take all that it can, and leave precious little for
post-colonial independence advancement. This pattern of abuse and neglect is
illustrated perfectly by the administration of the judiciary.
The British Governor not only has power to appoint the Chief
Justice, but under the constitution he disciplines and removes (if necessary)
the Chief Justice. There is no independent body for impartial selection of
Judges by a judicial services commission, as obtains in independent states which
were formerly British colonies.
In mid-1994, two lawyers, Lloyd Rodney and Courtenay Barnett,
lawfully petitioned then Governor, Martin Bourke, about instances of
maladministration and corruption in the judicial system. The lawyers were both
arrested, and Rodney was imprisoned, for the audacity of so stating, as was
determined to have “scandalised” the court. The history behind the lawyers’
arrest says much about the nature of British colonial rule.
Chief Justice, Sir Frederick Smith, (from Barbados), while
Chairman of the Board of Directors and a shareholder of Cable and Wireless ( the
British telecommunications multinational) sat to hear a public interest case for
fairer telecommunications charges. Smith failed to reveal to Attorneys Barnett
and Rodney, his interest in the case and position in the company. Barnett had
argued the case as had been filed by Rodney against the British company which
provided monopoly services in the Islands. On appeal, the Court of Appeal
unanimously over-ruled Smith’s decision, and the vendetta against Rodney and
Barnett commenced.
Smith, was obliged to resign his post as Chief Justice, arising
directly from the Cable and Wireless case. However, Smith’s departure was
followed by his recommended friend's appointment, Lindsey Worrel ( also from
Barbados). Worrel himself, acknowledged in open court that Smith had directed
him to the job of Chief Justice. The lawyers’s problems with the judiciary
continued, and Attorney Rodney finally petitioned with cause for removal of
Worrel, from the office of Chief Justice in the one judge jurisdiction of the
Turks and Caicos Islands.
The strongest causes for petitioning against maladministration
were afforded under the regime of Douglas, the next appointed Chief Justice, who
was brother-in -law to Smith. Rodney’s and Barnett’s call for justice, and an
end to corruption, by this time was accompanied by strong support from the
elected Chief Minister with support from other elected representatives. A case
against Douglas was set out in two petitions lawfully lodged by Barnett and
Rodney with then Governor, Martin Bourke, pursuant to a specific constitutional
provision as accorded with the Bill of Rights 1688. The Bill of Rights 1688, is
still law in the colony, and it prohibits charging a criminal offence for
petitioning for redress of a grievance. That right is well recognised in English
history, from the times of Kings Charles and James 11. The right has never been
removed from the statute books, and is respected in all democratic societies.
On the 4th November, 1994, Douglas issued two warrants for the
arrest of Rodney and Barnett for the criminal offence of having scandalised the
court and commitment of public mischief. The latter offence, interestingly
enough, was not an offence on the books, and the lawyers’ petition had already
complained about Douglas’s incompetence as a Chief Justice. Douglas, in
actuality, had signed the warrants himself, as had been sworn to before himself,
and witnessed by himself solely, in this matter of petitioning concerning
himself. It was this process, without leave as lawfully required for issue of
contempt proceedings, that served as the “legal” foundation for arrest of both
lawyers and imprisonment of Rodney.
Judge, Elliot Belgrave, was specially flown in overnight in
December, 1994, from Barbados, to grant leave ex post facto for continuation
with the 4th November, 1994, warrant which Douglas later dismissed in
January,1995. Notwithstanding, Rodney and Barnett were tried in March, 1995,
pursuant to the dismissed 4th November, 1994 warrants, and were convicted for
criminal contempt of court, for reason of scandalising the court. Specially
appointed British Judge, David Hallchurch, pronounced sentence to two and three
months imprisonment respectively, suspended for two years.
Following Chief Justice Douglas's departure, the same Judge who
had presided in the criminal contempt of court trials, Hallchurch, was appointed
Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Islands. He finally ensured Rodney's
imprisonment pursuant to the 4th November, 1994 warrant. Barnett acted as
counsel for Rodney. International attention of the matter led to Amnesty
International and other reputable human rights organisations demanding that the
British Government not contravene local and international law, and
unconditionally release Rodney. Having been placed in prison on the 29th August,
1997, Rodney was removed to the Grand Turk public hospital under twenty – four
hour prison guard.
On the 12th September, 1997, Rodney was chained to his hospital
bed. Amnesty International demanded that no more restraints be placed upon
Rodney, and the head of the Americas Region of Amnesty directed the British
Government's attention to the international provisions which Her Majesty’s
Government had agreed to which prohibited such conduct. Notwithstanding, again,
at about midnight on the 15th September, 1997, Rodney was awakened in his
hospital bed and he was shackled to the bed and left in full public view in the
hospital ward. The incidents made the front page of the national newspaper, “
The Turks and Caicos News”, with Rodney photographed holding the chains.
Caribbean newspapers also reported the incidents.
After suing the Attorney General and the Superintendent of
Prisons for "assault", the shackling, and "false imprisonment", the Attorney
General pleaded a specific lie in defense and made categorical denial of the
shackling. A jury on the 26th June, 2000, accepted Rodney’s evidence and awarded
Rodney damages and his lawyers, Barnett and Victor Cuffy, legal costs for trial.
The lawyers continue fighting to seek justice from a substantially flawed
justice system.
Ghandi had succeeded in overcoming colonial oppression, but
colonial attitudes have long outlived Ghandi’s noble struggle. Lloyd Rodney is
probably the last person of African descent in recorded history to have been
shackled in a British colony. In the Crown Colony of the Turks and Caicos
Islands the justice that is dispensed is deemed fit for the subjects ruled as
children of a lesser God.
Note: The matters here reported appear in the April, 1998
edition of The Human Rights Tribune, a publication within the United Nations
human rights system.
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