Party done

TOBAGO’S top cop last week Tuesday issued a serious warning to the country’s political parties.

The police will adopt a zero-tolerance approach to breaches of the covid19 regulations on the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election hustings. In fact, officers will be willing to go as far as to arrest party leaders to ensure compliance with the law.

“The speed of the leader is the speed of the pack,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) William Nurse in an interview with Newsday. “Anybody who is caught breaching these regulations will be prosecuted, and I’m not joking about that.”

We welcome this clear signal from the police, which appears to reverse the previous stance adopted by law-enforcement authorities on this matter.

It is by now well documented that over the course of two elections – the general election last August and the THA poll in January – there were several instances of political gatherings held in open defiance of the public health regulations.

Even political leaders were often caught up in the melee. Physical distancing and sometimes mask-wearing were forgotten in the heat of the moment.

“Let me make it clear. I was not here in January,” ACP Nurse said. “But I could tell you the election carded for December 6 and the campaign leading up to that election will comply as far as I am here.”

The mere prospect of seeing a political leader locked up is certainly an unsettling thing to contemplate. Anything that brings law enforcement in close proximity to politics is likely to cause considerable unease among right-thinking citizens who understand the need for a separation between the police and politics.

Police officers – and prosecutorial authorities – are given powers, but they are also given a degree of discretion which is meant to ensure good sense prevails. There are guidelines and policies that are meant to regulate the conduct of such prosecutors to ensure time and resources are not wasted, and to guarantee fairness and consistency.

But it has always been an egregious affront to the notion of equal treatment under the law that ordinary citizens have been slapped with sanctions for being found in breach of covid19 regulations, while political parties have been allowed to get away scot-free, even if their actions risked the creation of super-spreader events.

The delta variant is now confirmed in both Trinidad and Tobago, with Tobago being of particular concern owing to its feeble vaccination rate. But in both islands critical-care capacity has been overwhelmed and there is now the prospect of ethics committees being convened to be arbiters over life and death.

What is good for Peter should be good for Paul. It makes complete sense for ACP Nurse to escalate enforcement. All the parties should carefully heed his words, because the warning shot has clearly been fired.