TRNUC needs to ask more questions and be clearer of context
“Your ‘nuclear power’ is your ability to probe”
THE Truth Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) came in for a bit of a gentle and polite “wash, spin, dry and iron” treatment this week at the hands of Attorney General Frank Ally when it invited the AG to drop in for some clarifications in a number of issues they were facing.
The TRNUC had invited the AG to clarify certain positions of Government with regards to a case brought forward by Mr. Lewis Betsy regarding his security clearance and dismissal issues.
But instead Mr. Ally presented the Commission with a string of advice with regards of how they should be going about their tasks, how they were missing out on opportunities to question witnesses with enough thoroughness, and how they should be better able to understand the context of some of the situations they have to deal with.
One can’t help but wonder if alongside the Chairperson Gabrielle McIntyre there shouldn’t have been a mature legal local person to guide the commission along its winding and sometimes tortuous paths through a part of Seychelles history which many don’t know or remember, or are no longer on this earth to assist.It doesn’t help that when one discusses legal matters with an Attorney General one has to be precise on certain terms.
For example, the AG had to remind the commission that not having a passport doesn’t mean that one is “stateless” and that a passport is the property of a government that is issued to a person as a “laisser passer” but can be taken back, or not renewed, if the person’s movement is considered not in the interest of the state for one reason or another.
It was clear by the end of Monday’s session with the AG that the commission members would love to have the AG by their side for longer and more often, but the AG preferred a different option whereby the Commission would continue to swim in unchartered waters with all their wits about them and to the best of their ability, and that he would bring his advice and knowledge to bear upon the final document.
AG Ally reminded the Commission that the “nuclear power” that it has is its ability and mandate to investigate. “In this respect you have more power than a Supreme Court Judge who can mostly lis-ten and adjudicate whereas you have the power to probe”.
In this regard the AG told members that he felt that sometimes they didn’t question witnesses enough, and that if only they had they would have come to clearer positions or conclusions.
With a polite acceptance to their plea of “please come again” the AG’s session came to an end because there was a time pressure to bring in the next witness.
