Dear Editor,

I am flabbergasted by today's announcement that a minister is resigning from the post of minister of local government but retaining the position of minister of agriculture and marine resources while allegations concerning his conduct are being investigated.

What is the conduct? An administrator in a Family Island (for which the minister happens to be the representative), in the exercise of a judicial function of his office, convicted an accused of a criminal offense. Apparently the convict made an appeal to the Supreme Court. It is alleged that the minister engaged in a conversation with the island administrator, and that in the conversation he made statements which may have led or contributed to the release of the convict on bail by the administrator.

The root of the allegations go not just to his fitness to be functioning as a minister in that office, but to his fitness for office as a minister in any capacity. To say that it is appropriate that he resign one ministerial responsibility but retain another is tantamount to saying that a bank manager who is responsible for two branches of the bank should be relieved only of his responsibility for the branch in which he is charged with theft, but retain his position in respect of the branch in which no charges were made.

Let me say, there is no charge of theft here but in the case of both it is a charge of inappropriate behavior which, if true, will signify that the officeholder is unfit for office. I am flabbergasted because we have leaders who believe that we are too ignorant to appreciate the gravity of this.

No resignation at all would have been more defensible than a resignation from one position and not the other, as it would mean the prime minister was taking a stance that the controversy is not at all credible and that the government is prepared to stand or fall by the eventual outcome.

Having him resign from one ministerial position but retain another means that while you want to stand by him, you are accepting that maybe there could be some merit to the criticism and you want an avenue of escape in the event he actually is found culpable in any way.

I pass no judgment yet on the allegations, as I have always had respect for Minister V. Alfred Gray, but as a citizen of this country I feel my intelligence is being insulted. The prime minister should not be allowed to take a middle road on this.
- Luther H. McDonald

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