(Jamaica Gleaner) Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin vowed Monday night that history would vindicate him for controversial declarations last week surrounding the extradition saga of reputed drug baron Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, as well as claims by a government minister that Lewin was lying.
While steering clear of naming National Security Minister Dwight Nelson, the former police commissioner and army chief argued that he was au fait with the strictures of the Official Secrets Act, which Nelson has cited in a possible bid to muzzle him on sensitive security matters.
Speaking at a Rotary Club of East Kingston and Port Royal dinner at Morgan’s Harbour Hotel and Marina, Lewin referred to his diagnosis of Tivoli Gardens as a gang haven, which he believes was borne out in the unprecedented military assault launched in May against militiamen loyal to Coke.
“Timing is everything. When I said in October 2005 … that Tivoli Gardens is the mother of all garrisons, I was vilified, torn up, chopped up, everything. It stayed five years before it came to pass. I am a patient man.
“I am not into the issue of storytelling, but we shall see,” he told the audience.
“When you are in public life, you are always under some form of criticism, some justified, some may not be justified. I compartmentalise them. I take them in stride,” the ex-top cop remarked, adding that he would not be embroiled in a war of words.
Mixed messages
Meanwhile, the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) has urged the Government to honour its commitment to repeal The Official Secrets Act of 1911.
The Government has been deemed by the rights lobby to be sending mixed messages despite its tabling of whistle-blower legislation, because of utterances by Nelson that he would use the Official Secrets Act to shut up Lewin.
“You can’t have the Official Secrets Act and the Whistle-blower Act at the same time. They don’t mix,” Nancy Anderson, legal officer at the IJCHR, told The Gleaner on Monday.
Nelson, who is a member of the joint select committee of Parliament considering the Whistle-blower Act, has charged that public statements made by Lewin appear to be in breach of the Official Secrets Act. He has questioned whether Lewin, who left the job of top cop six months ago, could speak openly of any briefings related to national security.
Lewin last week alleged that deposed Tivoli Gardens don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, who the United States has charged with drug smuggling and gunrunning, was “tipped off” about the extradition request within 15 minutes after Lewin, in his capacity as police commissioner, had advised Nelson.
