“God Save The Queen,” Says Vybz Kartel As His Appeal Heads To The UK Privy Council
“God save the Queen of England” appears to be Vybz Kartel’s new mantra, which means the Worl’ Boss is singing a totally different ‘sankey’ from defence attorney Bert Samuels, one of Jamaica’s foremost anti-colonial campaigners.
The topic came up for discussion on Television Jamaica’s Entertainment Report on Friday night, in an interview which veteran entertainment journalist Anthony Miller staged with Samuels and two other members of Kartel’s legal team.
Samuels, who has repeatedly called for Jamaica to dispense with the Queen, the UK Privy Council and other ‘vestiges of colonialism’, only two weeks ago, had also called for Jamaica to follow Barbados’ lead to dump the queen, for a homegrown president and to get rid of the Privy Council in favour of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
The Samuels’ controversy began brewing on September 25, after Kartel, whose given name is Adidja Palmer, and his co-accused Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John were granted conditional leave by Jamaica’s Court of Appeal, to go to the Privy Council in the United Kingdom to challenge their murder conviction.
The four men were convicted in 2014 for the 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams and were given mandatory life sentences. Kartel was ordered to serve 35 years before being eligible for parole, while the three co-accused were ordered to serve 25 years.
In the nine-minute feature, Miller questioned the irony of Samuels taking Kartel’s murder case appeal to the UK Privy Council, in the land of the Queen Elizabeth II, whose position as Jamaica’s Head of State and sanctioning of the country’s laws, he has outrightly described as an ‘oppressive, monarchical footprint plastered all over our institutions of justice’.
Nevertheless, Kartel was highly pleased with the forthright Miller’s lines of questioning about the integrity of the CCJ versus the UK Privy Council.
Hours after the interview was aired, Kartel shared two excerpts from the programme, of Miller’s arguments about the likelihood of political interference at the CCJ, on his Instagram page, which echoed his own long-held sentiments.
“Can we remove the political influence from a Caribbean court…Because what you are assured of when dealing with the Privy Council, is that they are dealing with the law. With Caribbean courts, you have to wonder sometimes whether politicians are playing their games,” Miller had stated to Samuels in the clip.
“Anthony Miller, aka the kartel of journalism. Talk the truth nuh matter who vex. Btw GOD SAVE THE QUEEN,” Kartel in turn, wrote in his endorsement of Miller’s statements, before embellishing his response with a Union Jack icon, in stark contrast to Samuels who recently told The Gleaner newspaper that, ‘he is pained to hear courts commencing daily with the “absurd” shouting by the police of “God save the Queen”.
In the full feature, Miller also took time to have Samuels explain the contentious issue of him going to the Privy Council to Kartel’s case, when he was one of Jamaica’s biggest opponents of that Court.
“Jamaica should get rid of the Queen, become a republic. You are on record for the removal of the queen, changing up the Jamaican constitution. Surely you must be aware of the irony that for justice for Vybz Kartel, you are going to the very symbol of that colonial connection with Jamaica – the Privy Council- for Justice for your client,” Miller told Samuels.
In response, Samuels who is head of litigation at Kingston-based law firm, Knight Junior and Samuels, said he wished he was going to the CCJ as the final appellate court in the Kartel matter, but he had no choice.
During the interview, Miller told Samuels that: “Vybz Kartel himself now is saying: ‘God save the queen’”. However, Samuels said he was unaware that the Any Weather singer was in support of Elizabeth, but noted that “2021 will be the year” that his client will be freed by the UK Courts.
According to Samuels, Kartel’s case was mishandled as, among other things, the jurors were not given adequate time to deliberate before coming up with their verdict.
“For a four month trial, the longest trial in the history of Jamaica, the jurors were sent out 40 minutes before the end of the day, and therefore, they were to return a verdict within 40 minutes for five defendants, with 26 witnesses, with 5,600 pages of evidence in 40 minutes and you know for one person for murder, jurors usually retire for hours, not minutes,” he argued.
In February this year, Samuels had penned a letter to the Gleaner, objecting to Queen Elizabeth being Head of State in Jamaica, giving “royal sanctions” to laws, even after the island gained independence in 1962 after colonial rule for over a century, and the role of the British monarch in the enslavement of black Jamaicans for three centuries.
“When the court sits in Jamaica, all sessions commence with “God save the Queen”. So, from birth to application, laws are created for our peace, order, and good government, with a foreign monarch’s sanction,” Samuels had argued.
“The British Courts do not commence their sittings with “God save the Queen”, but we in Jamaica are hanging on to her with the pride of a bleached-faced, low-self-esteemed African-Jamaican. Learned men and women seem satisfied with this huge, oppressive, monarchical footprint plastered all over our institutions of justice. True independence and mental slavery can never be companions,” he had said.
In the meantime, Isat Buchanan, another of Kartel’s attorneys, has argued that it is in the best interest if all Jamaicans that the Portmore native be freed.
“The Jamaican people – every single one of them – should pray that the result of this case, is in the favour of the four men. If ever there was a case where constitutional violations was rife, it was this one,” he said.