Brown: Governor must 'act accordingly'

PLP MP Walton Brown — the man who has spearheaded the push to set up a Commission of Inquiry — says Governor George Fergusson is being disingenuous in his rejection of such a probe.

The Governor has said he has not ruled out a commission but wanted the House of Assembly to give a “clear indication of the terms of reference and of the proposed means of funding the commission”. Mr Brown, however, is not buying that argument. He says those issues have already been discussed with him. He said he, along with his colleague Michael Scott met the governor and deputy governor and “covered this ground already”.

“He has a clear decision from Parliament and simply needs to act accordingly; doing so will help erase the impression he has been overly influenced by parties deeply immersed in the matters discussed during the debate,” he said.  Mr Brown deflected questions about why the PLP did not seek such prospective redress while they were in government.

“That question could be asked about any other issue the PLP decides to bring forward while in Opposition,” he said. 

“We brought forward a number of issues while in government and we will continue to (do) so while in Opposition. Or, should the PLP merely react to government initiatives?” 

Mr Brown said the PLP had  no need to seek the backing of CARICOM, which is a body of Caribbean governments that has recently pursued slavery reparations from European countries. 

“We do have other avenues that we are pursuing and they will be announced when it is appropriate to do so,” he said.

Mr Brown said any cost estimate for the commission would, at this point, be speculative.

“The cost of any commission depends on the size, terms of reference and timeframe. Given that the governor did not allow us to present to him on this and help shape the terms of reference and related matters, any comment about cost now would be purely speculative,” he said.

The PLP, he said, would have no involvement in determining any wrongdoing in terms of historic and controversial land grabs. 

That would be the domain of the commission, he said, which would make recommendations about any form of redress.