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Floyd Green’s act of bravery and honesty, although some call it stupidity

Parliamentarian Floyd Green is a brave and honest man.  He must be. For the entire last week, he fed a court with information surrounding what he had seen, lucky or unlucky 13 years ago during an incident in which three men were killed by the police near the Acadia Drive apartment complex in St Andrew, where he lived. It occurred on January 12, 2013. 

Ticklish it is, but six members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force now contemplate their future, after they were charged with the murder of the three men. It was the conduct of the cops that main prosecution witness Green was offering information about.

Green said that he saw certain things happen from his vantage point on the complex’s third floor, which overlooked the crime scene. Now, unless something comes up to demonstrate that he was going through a bout of dementia when he issued a statement to officials, Green, henceforth, will gain further respect from me. 

In January 2013, he was in political shallow waters with the Jamaica Labour Party-affiliated Generation 2000, and probably making preliminary moves to try and get a hand on the St Elizabeth South Western seat for the JLP that colleague Dr Christopher Tufton lost to the People’s National Party’s Hugh Buchanan by 13 votes in December 2011.

So, the question of his being a minister, or state minister at the time, does not arise, as I hear some people who have strayed from political history suggest.

What Green has been doing in the Home Circuit Court is what every well-thinking Jamaican ought to be doing – being honest, and willing to step forward and tell what he saw. If the evidence is overwhelming, then it could go far in convicting the men who swore to protect, serve and reassure. It is they too, especially through Crime Stop, who have been urging people to ‘tell what you know’.

The fact that Green is continuing his journey as MP and minister, while giving evidence against representatives of an arm of the State, is commendable. Others in his capacity should follow his lead, if they are positioned to do so.

If Green’s approach was adopted during the 1970s and 1980s in particular, Jamaica would have been better off now. But too many members of the House of Representatives turned the other way when they saw barefaced breaches of Jamaica’s laws and refused to report their own party-backed perpetrators, some of whom killed innocent people in front of them.

Depending on which road the case leads to within days, Green will go down in chapter 13 of my book, delayed as it is, as a true example of goodness and maturity. 

Yet, in a society such as the one in which we live, he, too, must have an extra eye riveted in the back of his head, for there are those who would want to use that area for the storage of a bullet. That’s our island’s reality.

They are the same ones who are calling him stupid for testifying against the police and allowing him to be placed under the microscope of ridicule when he should be hailed as a hero.

Of course, as a member of the Jamaican Cabinet, and Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives, he had to go through being painted as an ignominious creature, with one defence attorney describing him during the trial as a ‘stranger to the truth and a consummate liar.’, while adding that Green was an embarrassment as a minister, even though when he gave a statement to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) he was nowhere near the Cabinet. He was also accused of conspiring with INDECOM.

Such comments were unwarranted. But I understand certain aspects of courtroom procedure.

At least Green responded that the attorney was ‘barking up the wrong tree’, and personal attacks would not deter him.

Green, an attorney-at-law, for years partnered in a Black River-based law firm with his fellow Munro College graduate, my close friend Ian Stephenson, who applied unsuccessfully to represent the PNP in the 2025 general election in St Elizabeth South Eastern. So, he is fully aware of how the ‘politics’ of the courtroom can play out.

One of the key statements made by Green on the night of the act, was that he heard a barrage of shots, and the only people he saw firing them were police personnel. Sounds familiar?

Why seize the gun assigned to SSP Cameron?

As we are on the subject of the police and their time in court, my focus switched to the ongoing tug-of-war between Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake and Senior Superintendent Wayne Cameron, as Cameron has now been hit with charges related to fraud.

Cameron was removed as chairman of the Police Officers Association last year by the Commissioner, but the court found, initially, that Dr Blake had no authority to do such a thing. Since then, that matter has been making the rounds in the courts.

But the Director of Public Prosecutions later ruled that there was reason to charge Cameron, and as quickly as that was done, Cameron was placed under arrest, bailed, but had his Government-issued firearm taken from him, at the request of the Commissioner, we are told, with another high-ranking officer telling me that that was standard procedure. Even if that were so, couldn’t an exception be made in this situation, considering the nature of the allegations? It seemed a bit too harsh and quite petty to me.

It is clear that the discord that exists between Dr Blake and Cameron dates way back, perhaps from their days at Mico Teachers College. It is not a good look. 

Without going into the facts of the case before us, I reckon that there are things, quite personal ones, that have not yet come to the forefront. I put it to all that if SSP Cameron does not have his private firearm, he could be exposed to the kind of risk that we dare not imagine. Things do not have to be the way they are.

VG Group – Jamaicans committed to building their country

The new construction organisation on the block, VG Group, set out last week to inform the Jamaican public that it was fully committed to the cause of uplifting the island, at a time when Hurricane Melissa wreaked such havoc on the land.   

The group’s principals, Lambert Nevins and Hugh Buchanan, told Our Today, that several possibilities would open up for Jamaica that could result in growth in, among other things, employment. Admirably, the 18 per cent profit sharing arrangement that is in place at the company must serve as a catch for potential workers.

Starting out in Trinidad & Tobago, the group spread to Guyana, Bermuda, and now, the expansion light is focused on Jamaica. It has been a tough fight for the company formed in 2012, as it has depended largely on self-funding to get going on the Jamaica leg over the two years since it was registered. Initially, banks and other financial institutions gave the company the ‘cold shoulder’, even after the submission of a comprehensive business plan. Now, the doors of the same financial companies are far more accommodating, having got the message that the group’s foundation is as solid as can be.

VG’s slogan, ‘Exceeding Excellence,’ is one that companies and individuals could follow. There was one man who told me that excellence can never be achieved or attained, but it is never a tough task to dream, and to dream big. 

A shout out to Andy Roberts at 75

Last Thursday, January 29, one of my dearest friends in cricket, Antiguan Andy Roberts, celebrated his 75^th birthday in his native land.

Sir Andy, as is his official title, is one of the pillars in the building of West Indies cricket, having made his debut in 1974, and played until 1983, at a time that he had far more to offer, but became a victim of the parochial system then.

Andy, also called ‘Hit Man’ has always been devoted to the game and the teams that he represented – the Leeward Islands, the Combined Islands, Hampshire and Leicestershire in England, New South Wales in Australia, and, of course, the West Indies.

He is the modern-day teacher of fast bowling, leading the domination by the West Indies, with other quicks like Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Malcolm Marshall, and Courtney Walsh learning the fundamentals from him at a time when there was no head coach, bowling coach, this coach, or that coach… as is the case now with the several caravans of mediocre pretenders.

He is from a land that has served as a production factory for great players. It has been said quite frequently that Barbados leads the Caribbean with the supply of world class cricketers. That may be so in absolute terms, but on a per capita basis, Antigua & Barbuda has produced more greats than any other country, and Andy is one of them.

The arguments arise day after day over the selection of a West Indies All-Time Test team, some even not choosing Andy in it, which is sheer madness. My All-Time West Indies 11 would include four Antiguans – Viv Richards, the world’s greatest batsman, Curtly Ambrose, Richie Richardson, and Andy. That, though, is the subject of another discussion.

For now, Andy, a member of the West Indies winning World Cup teams of 1975 and 1979, and the first Antiguan to represent the West Indies, should continue to sip his celebratory drink in recognition of his three-quarters of a century performance. His 202 Test wickets and 87 One-Day International scalps will always remain central to the reality of West Indies cricket.

I have always admired his outspoken approach to things, and may he continue on that route. I remember clearly, the West Indies tour of England in 1995, when he was coach of the team. Most, if not all of the journalists preferred to get comments about the team from Andy, over manager Wes Hall. Why? Andy spoke straight. Wes, in over 30 minutes of flowery talk, would end up telling you that all 17 members of the West Indies squad were eligible to be selected. 

Andy, with a dry smile one day, after the team’s final training session at Lord’s, in less than nine seconds, said, look, Courtney Brown is out, Winston Benjamin is out, and went right down the line in telling you the six who would not play, so it was a no brainer to figure out the final 11, or so we thought. One English writer had the temerity to ask him, so what would the final 11 look like? Andy walked away.