Nelson's claim unbelievable
Published:Tuesday | February 22, 2011 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
Having read a story outlining testimony given by the national security minister, Dwight Nelson, in the Manatt enquiry, I am simply stunned!
I say this as it is reported that he was "not aware that Coke was a reputed don"! Had the minister been the minister of any other ministry, that in itself would have been hard enough to fathom, but our minister of national security had no idea that 'Dudus' was an alleged don? Where has the honourable minister been for the past 20 years? Timbuktu?
Nelson allegedly goes on to say that he "didn't know anything about" Dudus, and that he "knew nothing of Mr Coke" and "nothing of his activities". The minister is clearly being either stringent with the truth or should be ashamed of himself for admitting to know so little about one with whom so many nefarious activities have allegedly been associated.
Shame
The simple fact is that if most Jamaicans at least knew "something about Dudus", shouldn't Minister Nelson be ashamed to say that he knew "nothing" about him?
Finally, Mr Nelson's admission - according to the report - that "all intelligence matters" reported to him are "shared in Cabinet" is a damning admission of his knowledge of security matters and how he handles his ministerial responsibilities. Suppose he received intelligence reports linking a member of the Cabinet to criminal activity, would he, in turn, share same with the very person/s involved?
Anyone who knows anything about security would know that certain matters are disclosed on a need-to-know basis. Why the minister of national security would choose to disclose sensitive and highly classified intelligence relating to national security among fellow government ministers, including the ministers of sport, agriculture, labour, health, etc is perhaps the real question that Nelson should be asked to answer!
I am, etc.,
R.S.