In his time as a columnist with this newspaper, attorney Anand Ramlogan was a voice of even-handed calm, even when he championed his causes and concerns passionately. As the new Attorney General, Ramlogan will have to be even more careful to balance his thoughts and words now that he has been elevated from popular legal defender of the downtrodden to representing the noblest interests of the law on behalf of the Government. It was reassuring, then, to note that the new AG took the clearest line of law and protocol in declining any representations made to his office to intervene in the matter of Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson's extradition order, which is now before the Privy Council. This was the correct decision to make and a clear no-brainer for a legal mind of Ramlogan's quality.
It was, further, the correct political position to take on a matter that reaches back to the first tenure of the UNC in government and the troublesome revelations and allegations that came to light in the review of the Piarco Airport upgrade. The Attorney General was entirely correct to note that it would be "premature and pre-emptive" to intervene in the legal process that is underway, but it remains unclear whether there is a point beyond the Privy Council's ruling on the matter in which the AG might intervene. Ramlogan may have felt it necessary to balance the firmness of his denial with some indications that his office remained open to public entreaties, but to suggest that he remained "open to receive representation" from Galbaransingh and Ferguson's attorneys is to indicate a willingness to involve the State and his office in the very unusual legal manoeuvres that would be required to engage in a Privy Council decision.
That statement is compounded by his apparent caveat that he would not become involved in the matter "at this stage." Even though it is the Attorney General who must sign each extradition warrant, once the extradition is ruled on by the Privy Council, there would be little that the Attorney General could do within the rule of law to intervene in the decision. The region has borne very recent witness to the deadly and disastrous consequences of the attempt by Jamaican politicians to intervene in an extradition matter. Given the sensitivity of this matter, Attorney General Ramlogan will have to be careful to phrase his statements in accordance with the strictest readings of the rule of law and the allowances of the protocols that apply to his new post.
This will be particularly important in matters like the case of Galbaransingh and Ferguson, who were known to be party financiers of the UNC in its first successful campaign for government. The timing of the Galbaransingh and Ferguson matter is likely to be only the tip of the Piarco Airport legal iceberg that's now floating dangerously into the path of the People's Partnership. This was a matter that visited considerable embarrassment on UNC supporters and provided the first faultlines in the party's leadership structure a decade ago. It is not a matter that the UNC of today would welcome, but it may well be the luck of the political draw that puts the Government of 2010 in place to prosecute the failings of the Government of 1995.
In his statement at Friday's post-Cabinet press conference, the Attorney General responded to early questions on this issue with admirable directness. "The People's Partnership is committed to the rule of law and equality of treatment before the law," Ramlogan said.
"Our position is that the rule of law must be allowed to prevail and these are matters for the courts to decide." But it won't only be the opposition that will be paying close attention to how the ruling party manages this political pebble in its boot. The voting public who accepted not just the specifics but the spirit of their campaign promises will expect the streams of the legal process to flow smoothly onward unimpeded by the sullage of untoward interventions, even if the price is paid in political coin.