Task force another 'Mongoose Gang' says Antigua Labour Party

Deficiencies abound in Antigua and Barbuda's Police
Force says PM Spencer

by Sarrah Hadeed
Caribbean News Network Antigua and Barbuda Correspondent
E-mail: sarrahhadeed@yahoo.com 

Monday, May 9, 2005

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua: A special task force designed to halt "organised crime and corruption by government officials" is nothing more than a "modern-day Mongoose Gang" whose aim is to terrorise and arrest former Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ALP) government officials says the ALP.

Speaking in Parliament Thursday, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer pointed out that his 13-month old United Progressive Party (UPP) coalition Administration has been given a mandate by the people of Antigua and Barbuda to do away with corruption in high places, organized crime as well as misconduct in public office, adding that, the special task force is to aid in speeding up the prosecution process and to assist the police.

"In order to remedy some of the deficiencies in the ability of the police service to meet present-day challenges, the government has provided a task force with the necessary resources and it is about to commence its duties, " said Spencer, blaming the former administration for not taking such a step while in office.

"Successive ALP governments did not take steps to establish such a task force or to remedy any deficiencies in the administration of the police service for it to be able to effectively fight corruption and organised crime. Our government took steps to establish this task force in order to remedy some of the deficiencies in the duties of the police service to meet present day challenges."

News of the establishment of the task force has unnerved top ALP officials and brought quick reaction form former Prime Minister and political leader of the ALP Lester Bird who has accused the Government of going on a "witch hunt" and drew reference to the formation of the notorious "Special Police" (SPs) which was set up by the People's Liberation Movement Government of former Premier George Walter in the early 1970s.

ALP officials have called the task force a 'Mongoose Gang', with the party's leader, Bird, saying the formation of the task force is the government's way of appeasing such UPP support groups like the Lock Up Movement Party (LUMP) and others who have been agitating for the arrest and prosecution of those involved in the alleged removal of files from the Office of the Prime Minister and other allegations of theft in high political circles.

Bird noted that two distinguished Directors of Public Prosecution have concluded that there is no evidence to prove a case in the missing files issue and has accused the government of further dividing the nation.

Meanwhile, it was also announced that a former Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, has been given the job as legal counsel to the task force, Maharaj is said to be experienced in white collar crimes, having established a similar task force to fight organised crime and official corruption in his native Trinidad and Tobago.

The corruption issue in Antigua and Barbuda has heightened the interest of a number of observers the world-over now that a new government has taken office. However, there are those who argue that nothing has changed.

While in opposition, Spencer and his UPP had consistently accused the former ministers of the ALP administration of being "knee deep in corruption." However, following sharply on his inauguration as the country's third Prime Minister, an embarrassed Spencer was forced to admit that two of his party's high profile officers resigned (one was later arrested and charged) after being implicated in a scandal involving the planned sale of a cellular phone service.

More recently, questions are being raised about a US$25 million car park to be constructed by a Trinidadian firm. Residents argue that the palatial prime minister's office, the country's ultra-modern High Court Building and two other stately-looking government offices, which were built by the Hadeed Group cost far less, thus, making the projects suspect.

Spencer himself had his creditability seriously questioned when he and an ALP Senator appeared as character witnesses before a high court judge in St. John's during a murder trial that "stunned" the nation, involving the death a Jamaican national.

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