Finally, someone has tampered with the wall of police and political silence; someone who was on the inside, should know, and high enough. Through partially piercing the veil, Paul Slowe has confirmed the beliefs and fears of society at large. This particular messenger and his resonating messages cannot be denied, as he paid his dues during the most eventful of times.
It was October 1992, and the aftermath of the PPP’s electoral victory. One stalwart man held an unwilling line, became the line between the unknown and what has since evolved. He marshalled the flimsy khaki line manning the ramshackle barricade that separated. There was no one else. Even if he could have known then what he knows now, it is highly likely that nothing would have changed. For he did his duty as he saw it; he did so when those above and around him vacillated, and contemplated abdicating their responsibilities. The PPP powers knew this then, they know it today: Paul Slowe was the difference maker.
Today, there is no room for the professionalism of this kind of man; no recognition for meritorious service; no career pathway for the independent minded; no retention for unique insights. He paid the price for the belief that all of these virtues would extend into peacetime. He too was wrong. Now a climate of intolerance fuelled by secrecy and fear prevails.
This much is clear: if the PPP government was still interested in a clean force, and by extension a reducing of pervasive societal corruption, the disappearing Slowes would be grasped as rare gems invaluable in presence and endless in potential. Having said this, care should be taken to avoid affixing wings since none is without flaw. But before crowning a man with horns, the government should at least name the mortal sins committed: whether it is marching to a different drum, or blowing the whistle, or uttering truth.
For it is certain telltale truth that this government seeks to sabotage and suppress; that it recognizes as allies those tarnished in many ways, some disclosed, others still unexposed. Yet it shows the man responsible in some part for its current existence the door.
The PPP powerbrokers form alliances with old enemies and the pernicious because of their own corrupt nature. There is perpetuation of what a president-in-waiting rather airily calls a “little” corruption. A little corruption partially embodied in the surging travesty that crushes a nation, as witnessed through certain realities.
There are truths involving ranks subscribing daily to ten and twenty thousand dollar “box-hands;” pinpointing juniors that have accumulated the trappings of opulence and a visible asset base; and recognizing higher-ups reported to have assembled transportation fleets. But that’s not all. This is the same body where some members ignore distress calls; where others readied things to help themselves during a recent fire tragedy; and where brethren hover to pounce upon the unsuspecting or needy. It is this body that the government offers as the only one capable of independence in any investigation of phantoms. Given these circumstances, the Assistant Commissioner must be on solid ground through the smoking ordnance delivered. Yet it must be remembered that this is not about the GPF alone, but about all the implications for society.
What happens next? What will become of Paul Slowe now? One thing is certain: he will not be silent; he cannot be, given the Pandora’s Box of perversity opened. Meanwhile, the government is scrambling to control the damage, dilute his claims, and tar in indescribable ways. The worst that it has exhumed so far was a pathetic counter from one of its forgotten men in the state rag; this was quickly followed by claims of sowing “seeds of disaffection” and “wild antics.” Historically, government centurions have attacked conscientious truth seekers even in the best of environments: Recall Ellsberg and the New York Times; Ms Graham and The Washington Post; and in Jamaica, Officer Red Herring. Locally, government pitbulls foam at the mouth, and strain at the leash in anticipation.
Regardless, Officer Slowe can rest easy, and be comforted that “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” For at one defining moment, duty shone at its brightest, and it brought honour to him and institution and country. When the government’s dispersal of Slowe is measured against this backdrop and coupled with its retention of tainted others, there remains no doubt as to its scale of values, or its priority of interests. This is the knitting into the security fabric of this nation that a warped government facilitates. When, given the circumstances and the cries of a burdened populace, the government should embrace the fair-minded and forceful, it is interested in factotums only. Surely there can be no starker reminder of where this government truly stands in terms of law and order, and corruption.
This is the far swing of the pendulum where this government sweeps away any questioning of its ways, and steamrolls all opposition. The fact that a lone policeman once stood up for it at a very crucial time is now of no import; it is an indication of government’s success in reconfiguring the force for its own nefarious purposes.
The Paul Slowe outcry is best represented by William Butler Yeats in The Second Coming:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Is this not what the retiring Assistant Commissioner shared with the nation? Is this not where concerned citizens find themselves?
