Dear Editor,

HANDS OFF MARIA – Part 1 By NOMAD

Please allow me some space in your publication to respond to articles written and carried across the media by Harold Lovell & D. Gisele Isaac.

Lovell’s article is entitled “Chain Gang Exposed: Gaston’s Culture of Creating Enrichment Blows Wide open” and Isaac’s, “Ask what your country can do for you”

Whatever criticism one may have of Lovell it cannot be denied that he speaks eloquently and writes well.

His problem however, is his lack of veracity.

Harold Lovell lies as a matter of habit and says and writes things that he knows to be false, but nevertheless keeps lying no matter what.

Indeed, his propensity to lie is known and discussed even in sections of the UPP, as Damani Tabor and others have publicly exposed.

In the article referred, Lovell made a number of assertions that were absolutely false.

The first was that “in his first year as Prime Minister, Gaston Browne and his son flipped land at Long Bay turning an overnight profit that made them instant millionaires.

This is and continues to be a barefaced lie. Lovell is aware that the land referred was a private treaty between the owner Mr. LaFaurie and the Prime Minister’s son.

It was not government land.

As a lawyer, though a failed one, Lovell is supposed to know that all of this information and facts of this land transaction can be ascertained and verified by a simple search of the Register of Lands.

He also stated as a fact that Gaston Browne became a millionaire solely based on this transaction.

This is an egregious lie.

The Prime Minister has always admitted to his wealth and as a member of Parliament, he publicly stated his wealth with full transparency as thirty million dollars as is required by law.

This was filed and continues to be filed under the Integrity in Public Life Act 2004. This information is available to all under the Freedom of Information Act.

What exactly is the corruption that Mr. Lovell claims in the matter he describes as “a shadowy WIOC share deal”? Perhaps he can explain to the citizens what is the corruption he speaks about and how is the Prime Minister involved.

Lovell then segues into what he describes as “the Antigua Airways fiasco”. Apart from the political fodder which was gleefully exploited by the UPP (as it was entitled to do) where is the corruption?

And so, we come to the “chain gang scandal”. Mr. Lovell fails to acknowledge that it was Prime Minister Gaston Browne who was the whistleblower in this matter, when some two weeks ago on the Browne & Browne Show, he broke the matter in a most candid and responsible manner with full transparency, never, ever seen before.

At that time, he indicated that the genesis of the information came from Minister Maria Browne.

The matter was not brought to light by any investigative effort by the UPP, its activists or self-proclaimed investigative journalists or Facebook experts. It was brought to the public’s attention by none other than Minister Browne.

You now fully support the call for a fully independent inquiry into what you term the scandal. Perhaps Lovell would care to explain the rationale for this call.

In fact, the government has already launched a full audit of its entire vehicle fleet as part pf a major drive to tighten financial oversight and curb unauthorized spending.

Every ministry, department and state-owned companies must submit all vehicles in their possession for comprehensive review.

Financial secretary Rasona Davis-Crump heads this audit with a view to “identifying the unauthorized purchases and if irregularities are confirmed, restitution for and excesses in payments should be negotiated and settled”. This is the stated position of the government.

In light of this will/can Lovell explain his rationale for an Independent Inquiry?

Further, as a former though failed former Minister of Finance, Lovell knows that inquiries of all types are exceedingly expensive and are supposed to elicit facts not known to the general public.

Surely the audit accomplishes just that. Also, as an Attorney, even an inactive one, Lovell should be aware that instituting a formal public inquiry with witnesses giving evidence and findings of guilt, the persons so found cannot be prosecuted in a criminal court based on that public evidence.

This is not so with an Audit.

Lovell complains that “the name of the alleged mastermind behind the racket was deliberately not mentioned”, though everyone knows this person.

This is of no matter presently as this name will certainly be front and centre, once the audit is completed.

While Lovell bemoans the fact that this name is not mentioned and everyone knows who it is, Lovell has not mentioned the name either. Is that because the same person is a major financier of the UPP?

It was Nomad’s intention to deal with your baseless accusation “that Gaston Browne had urged his Cabinet to enrich themselves”. This is and continues to be a baseless lie, born of politics and politricks.

However, time and space do not allow me to expound on that at this time. However, it will be dealt with in Part 2 when I respond to Gisele Isaac.

Lest we forget Lovell never called for an Inquiry into his colleague Minster of Public Works in the UPP government who spent a billion dollars on roads that didn’t last and built condos for rats in St. John’s.

He never called for an inquiry into the 6 generators that never functioned and cost this country 45 million dollars plus the 250 million dollar judgment from APC.

Finally, there is a campaign to discredit Minister Maria Browne with one serial poster, the clever Audley Phillip, suggesting that Minister Browne “should step aside while the investigation takes place”.

This is a really foolish statement.

Firstly, it is Minister Maria Browne who brought this matter to the attention of the Prime Minister. Secondly, it is accepted that these illegal activities have been ongoing for upward of 20 years.

Minister Browne has been at Public Works for just about 2 years.

The accusation that she is culpable or involved in this scam is nothing short of asinine and political propaganda.

A Minister cannot know everything.

There are layers of administration. And when the Minister tries to get involved in everything, they are accused by the internet vagabonds of micromanaging.

In the words of the great Sly J – “while you claim to know everything, do you know when you are getting knuckle?”