…must prove
It used to be said that, unlike us in territories with a British tradition, the US was a “litigious society”. Well, maybe at the level of the ordinary fellas and felines in the street of civil society, that may still be so; but when it comes to governments, the PNC is ensuring that ours is probably the most litigious in the world. Has there ever been a Government that needed to go to the courts to decide what’s the majority of 65, especially when the said Government BECAME the Government when it received 33 seats to the other party’s 32, which relegated the other party to the Opposition??
The resort to the Judiciary probably inevitably crept into the workings of our Elections Commission, not just because the subject of that institution’s cynosure has to do with the already contentious subject of “Who rules”, but also because the institution’s head has been, more often than not, a member of the Judiciary. Sadly, heads of that institution have mostly gone on to become “infamous”, rather than “famous”. It would appear that they lose their Solomonic powers of judgement once disrobed, so to speak!
The jury might just be out on the incumbent Claudette Singh (pun obviously intended!), but she just delved into her judicial background when she pronounced on the status of all the anomalies the PNC’s been alleging as the ballot boxes have been opened for the recount she’d ordered. Pronounced she: “He who affirms must prove”. It’s good for us that she didn’t use the Latin equivalent, “Affirmati Non Neganti Incumbit Probatio”, which someone of her generation would’ve had drilled into her. The present Administration has enough problems deciphering constitutional commands, like “The President and Cabinet shall resign…” to figure out Latin!!
So, what the good lady is saying, if your Eyewitness understands her correctly, is the PNC will have to provide sufficient evidence to prove that the recount is so corrupted she can’t make a valid call at the end.
While the PNC, as the lawyers say, has the “burden of production”, it doesn’t stop there: they also have the “burden of persuasion”, meaning that they can’t just produce allegations of zombies and migrants voting without providing evidence that’s “persuasive”.
The question, of course, is: Who sets the standard of persuability on what has been produced? When she was on the Bench, the Chair had announced that there had to be a “preponderance of the evidence” – where there’s just enough evidence to tip the balance. So, does this mean that if the PNC provides a death certificate that one zombie voted, that would tilt the scale for them?
Amna Ally thinks so; and it’s said she’s besties with Claudette!!
…should know?
To say your Eyewitness was shocked to see a release from the ex-Minister of Agriculture on matters agricultural would be putting it mildly. Even in the best of times (which, to be honest, should be phrased “even in the worst of times”) Noel Holder has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he is completely lost when it comes to his portfolio.
But here it was, he came out in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic (well, virtually) to assure the nation that all is well in the agri sector. What a mensch!! He was clearly assuring that all is well with our food supply even though there’s a lockdown on. But sadly, he was just confirming that he’s still adrift on the deep Sargasso Sea!
How in god’s name can the AGRICULTURE sector be okay when sugar has been devastated by his Government, and its replacement by the development of the interior savannahs, as promised in their manifesto, never got off the ground??
But, then again, at least Holder didn’t add to the PNC’s Tower of Babel narratives!
…COVID in Presidential Guards
We were told, baldly, that eight Presidential Guards tested positive for COVID-19. Now, could somebody say when this occurred, since in all the reports from the beginning, there was never such a daily spike reported??
