Friday, January 15, 2010

A GOVERNMENT WITHIN A GOVERNMENT?

Following on from questions raised by Deputy Bob Hill – this being with regard to the decision of the Chairman of PPC to refuse to investigate the concerns of the suspended Chief Police Officer over the actions of some involved in his suspension - at next week’s States sitting the I shall ask the following question of the Chief Minister:

“Did a meeting led by the Chief Executive take place after the CMB (Corporate Management Board) meeting of 25th July 2007 to discus matters relating to the Minister for Health and Social Services and, if so, who was present at the meeting, was the possible removal from office of the Minister discussed and, if so, would the Chief Minister suspend all those present from their duties pending a full investigation into this matter”.

These concerns have rumbled on for far too long. Having already personally asked questions last year about the alleged political and senior civil service involvement in the ‘Operation Blast’ case; and only last week seen serious concerned again expressed over the suspension of the Chief Police Officer, the allegations that attempts were made to remove a Minister from position in 2007 must finally be answered and a full independent investigation take place.

Having now been shown a copy of the original file note document where the suspended Chief Police Officer states that he felt an attempt was made to draw him ‘into a civil service led attempt to remove a Minister from office’ I have to ask the question as to how those allegedly involved can not have been suspended while this is independently investigated.

We are told that suspension is ‘a neutral act’ yet Mr. Power has now been suspended for some 14 months. Until such time as he is ever found guilty of any charge he is an innocent man. Thus to any self-respecting democratic government the concerns he expressed back in 2007 must be taken seriously and the matter acted upon. If not, then we can only conclude that the concerns raised by Deputy Hill are well founded. The fact that the Minister at the centre of this happens to be Senator Syvret; and the rights or wrongs of any of his subsequent actions are wholly irrelevant.

Deputy Trevor Pitman

15 comments:

  1. Things really are awfull when I agree with something on this blog.

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  2. "We shall not accept comments that are offensive in language or content, libellous, irrelevant or deranged."


    Well well, it is no wonder that there are no comments on here then! How can anyone leave an honest comment about the Jersey Government, without it falling into one of these categories?

    We all know how corrupt the system is, so how can you moderate the truth? and why the hell would you want too?

    The JDA, I am sorry to say, resembles the mutes, telling the deaf, to follow the blind!!!

    I leave you with the philosophy that our groups follow, so that you all may learn what we know.

    "...the tapestry is mute, so are we-
    as long as we are held immobile by the tightly woven threads of fear..."

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  3. hi it high tim e the JDA got some back bone and stood up to the executive and fight with Stuart for justice in our Island11

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  4. To be honest the more i learn about deputy pitman and the JDA the more i find myself agreeing with them deputy pitman certainly wasn't a wasted vote. Please keep blogging for some of us its the only way we can find out whats going on

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  5. Who gives a monkeys about his suspension? The £4.5 Million spent on Haut de la Garenne or wasted should I say, could of been spent on health, education, Fort Regent, a new youth centre but instead we have a very small number of people defending what now amounts to be a farce. Trevor Pitman you will not change the Government with this story so try and find something else and your questions on his suspension when its always in camera is just gping around in circles. I wish the left could think of something better to attack the Government with instead of borrowing crazy Syvret ideas all the time that have no clout anyway.

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  6. To Ian:
    Bad news can still be discussed in good language. Newspapers have always done so, and new media must follow suit, if they are to have any credibility at all. I can't edit comments, only accept or reject them completely. You may cast as many aspersions as you like on the current Council of Ministers, but I can't let anyone use our site to make false accusations, and won't let them use words that are generally considered to be swearing.

    To Anonymous#4:
    Plenty of people are concerned about the Power suspension. It may yet be shown that the Haut de la Garenne investigation was mishandled by the police. However, there is a stronger impression of the action against Power being mishandled by the most powerful men in Jersey, and an implication that there is a structural failure in our system for them to be able to do so in such a manner. The can of worms is already open and it is not enough to put the lid back on and just say to ourselves "Never mind, worse things happen in Haiti."

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  7. Ian Evans is not even from Jersey so without sounding racist in anyway I value more local opinions on the way this Island is run than outsiders.

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  8. David, how much money have Messrs Power and Harper cost the tax payer? More than enough to give civil servants a pay increase and more than enough to pay for a Town Park. Lets get away from the she says, he says argument and get down to facts. They have cost us all a fortune and we all have to pay for their work via GST and Income Tax. Now beleive me more people are cheesed off with aspect then whether Power to less than 6 regular Net users whether he was rightfully suspended or not. Now do the JDA not agree that this kind of money wastage as highlighted by numerous newspaper articles is unacceptable?

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  9. 'Worse things happen in Haiti' So who is Jersey's Papa Doc Duvalier ?

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  10. To Anonymous#6:
    To get the right answer, you need to ask the right question. I think your first one needs expanding to "How much more money have Power and Harper cost us than they should?" There was very clearly a case to investigate, even if the high profile excavation was perhaps not the best possible approach, and any fit and proper head of police would have put at least some resources into it. And their other big case on their watch was Curtis Warren. Also an expensive one, and, considering he has far more wealth and influence than anyone in the foster care profession, more likely to be at the root of any corrupt attempt to get the chiefs of police, should it be corruption rather than just commonplace arrogance and mismanagement. Should they have let him get on with his trade undisturbed? I say not.
    I don't like the soaring tax that I am paying, either. However, law and order are amongst the most important things that tax buys. We would all suffer if major crime became untouchable because our police could not afford to investigate anything where the culprit was not caught red-handed.
    It is not clear to me from the newspaper articles whether the waste of money has been in the police work itself, or in paying an acting chief as well as a suspended one.

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  11. Re Anon who is concerned about wasted expenditure.

    Why is it we have such a dysfunctional state that it allowed children to be abused in its Care Homes all those years ago?. Had the government exercised its duty of care appropriately back in the 50's,60's and 70's then there would have been no need for a police investigation now. The neglect back then was a consequence of right wing politicians indifferent to the treatment of working class children. Their parsimonious welfare system failed because of the types who were running the show. Nothing has really changed; the same elite is still there. Large numbers of working class people on the island continue to suffer, especially anyone dependant, for whatever reason, on the social security system.

    The construction of a political organisation to represent the independent interests of working people remains an urgent issue. Until that is addressed there will be no change and those outraged by such injustices will remain, as now, quite powerless.

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  12. David your response is a feeble one. The costs of law and order? A £650.00 a day dog, lavish meals for one hour meetings in London, business class trips to Australia and the digging up of an old care home without even the name of a missing person. If the JDA endorses such behaviour then I can only think of the old saying, pound foolish, penny wise and it sure as hell is not a vote winner to the majority.

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  13. I think I know more about this topic than anybody else on here.

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  14. Nice for you Jason. Indeed, everyone else is perturbed because they don't know what is going on, and the bits that leak out don't add up to anything reassuring.
    I suppose that this knowledge of yours is too confidential for you to put on a blog of your own, to share with all of us who wish we knew, too.

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