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The bills we can’t afford

27 octobre 2015, 19:49

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The bills we can’t afford

It was greeted by the leader of the opposition as “a dangerous and scary constitutional amendment”. The chairman of the Bar Council says in the pages of our magazine this week, “I have not seen such legislation in any other country.” Opposition politicians are up in arms and many of those in government are grumbling. History will have to record those who are pushing for the proposed legislation, those who sign it, those who are bravely speaking against it and, of course, the appalling silence of ‘the good people’.

The proposed ‘unexplained wealth order’ law may look innocuous. It is, however, a major threat to our rights as citizens. With the stroke of a pen, it will take away from us the cardinal principles of presumed innocent until found guilty and the right to silence, two rights enshrined in our constitution. And, put together, the three proposed bills potentially carry the seeds of repression.

As things stand, politicians cannot come and confiscate your property on a mere suspicion or because they have a score to settle with you. There has to be a prima facie case and, if there is suspicion of an illicit activity or tainted money, the Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) – so far under the DPP’s office – can freeze and confiscate your assets once a court case has been lodged and a court of law has ruled that the assets are tainted.

The provisions of the new law will first allow the minister of good governance to snatch away the ARU and place it under his own ministry, thus conferring upon himself huge unchecked powers. An Integrity Reporting Services Agencyand an Integrity Reporting Boardwill be created and the chairman and assessors will be nominated by the prime minister and the minister of good governance respectively in the same fashion – we have no reason to suspect otherwise – nominations have been made in the last few months. A manna from heaven for the cronies.

In the wrong hands, what this means is that it will be politicians who will decide who is suspicious enough to unleash their cronies on, and whether the explanation given by the people targeted is satisfactory or not. I don’t know how many of our citizens feel safe with a law of this nature.

Yes, there are safeguards. The final say remains with the judiciary. However, politicians can potentially abuse this very dangerous law and harass and smear innocent citizens who are not in their good books by investigating their assets and freezing them for years before the courts finally declare them innocent. We have seen how the provisional charges law has been abused by all governments and how it is still being abused. The proposed bills promise to be open to even more abuse by politicians.

What is worse is that the bills make sure there is no personal liability.  Great! “We abused you, stole your rights, tarnished your reputation, for years you could not use your assets which we know you’ve worked very hard for but there is nothing you can do against us.”

The promoters of the bills rationalise the repression inherent in the new law by pretending to put an end to something most of us abhor: corruption. In fact, there is absolutely no mention of corruption or criminal activity in the proposed bills. Anything – just about anything – can trigger an investigation and just about anyone can be targeted.

The terrible haste to change the constitution to put potentially dangerous weapons in the hands of potentially dangerous politicians and allow them to shoot at will, and the retrospective aspect of it, should send alarm bells ringing in every citizen’s head. Never in the history of this country have we had a minister with such vast powers as the minister of good governance. The bills he is proposing give him the power of life and death over all of us. It goes against the very principles our nation was founded on.

And here’s the test: If this legislation doesn’t exist in any other democracy, ask yourself the simple question: “Why not?” Two possibilities: Either we have found a miracle solution which no other country has thought of, in which case let’s copyright it, or other democracies cannot go against the human rights of their citizens and the principle that everyone is innocent until found guilty by a court of law.  I’ll let you answer that one!