Francis cries shame over EU role in IMPACS case

Outspoken Attorney at Law, Mary Francis, has said that it is a shame that European diplomats had to become involved in the IMPACS affair.

However Francis, who is Coordinator of the National Centre for Legal Aid and Human Rights, has welcomed their intervention with mixed feelings.

She also welcomed the statements made by the diplomats at a news conference on Thursday of this week, after meeting Prime Minister Doctor Kenny Anthony to discuss the IMPACS case.

Francis asked:

“Why did it have to come to this?”

She recalled her years of advocacy and correspondence written to the authorities, urging them to act swiftly to facilitate independent inquiries into the alleged extra-judicial Police killings that became the subject of the IMPACS investigation.

“I wonder whether we have forgotten our colonial past because to bring about such a level of outside intervention could have been avoided, had the previous government as well as the current government carried out an independent inquiry into those killings without delay in keeping with the rule of law,” the Attorney at Law said.

Francis asserted that partisan politics was at the heart of the issue.

“This shameful situation speaks to the negative effect partisan politics has on the governance of this country,” she declared.

Francis said that the task at hand now is for Saint Lucians as a people to overcome destructive partisan politics and restore integrity to the governance of this country.

As far as she was concerned, the information emanating from the diplomats at their news conference should have come from the people’s representatives including the Prime Minister and the Minister responsible for Justice.

“I hope the lessons have been learnt,” she asserted, adding that what Saint Lucians can do for themselves should not be done by others.

“It is better to die on ones feet than live on ones knees,” Francis declared.