Alright, alright! We have heard the argument time and time again and we have now come to anticipate it at every debate. The Commission for the Prerogative of Mercy (CPM) exists in many other countries.

Granted that the UK also has a similar mechanism called the UK Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM), which allowed the monarch to theoretically grant pardon to some convicts. But the similarity stops there.

Let’s look at the facts: The RPM is not made up of a string of political nominees. Here, apart from the chairman, the other members of the commission are obscure lawyers who have no great achievement that we know of. They owe their huge salaries that we pay for but can’t ask the details of to their political nomination by another political nominee.

The RPM pardoned only two prisoners since 1997! Our CPM pardoned or reduced the sentence of 25 convicts in one sitting!

The RPM acts in exceptional cases and is described as an “avenue for convicted persons to seek a remedy in cases where a miscarriage of justice may have occurred….[ and] will normally be exercised when fresh evidence becomes available that was not able to be properly examined by a court and which raises serious doubts about a person’s conviction or sentence.” If the Mauritian Commission for the Prerogative of Mercy thinks that 25 people who have had their sentences struck off, commuted or reduced are exceptional cases and that there was miscarriage of justice in all of them, then maybe we should save our money, close down our courts of law and pardon all the criminals without wasting our time having them tried.

More outrageous than the feeling of injustice oozing out of the nation’s pores at the news that the one who was nicknamed Dip Kid walked away scot-free is the opacity and arrogance with which the commission operates, the list of the convicted criminals who have been pardoned is top secret! Apparently, this was arrogantly confirmed by one of the obscure lawyers who sit on the commission: “Disclosing the list is out of the questions”! It’s not as if they wanted to clear up any misunderstanding or misconception we might have about the exceptional circumstances that would lead to the pardon of 25 criminals in one fell swoop!

For as long as the commission and the president hold on to their right to silence, it is difficult to shed the perception that there is one justice for nou ban and another for banla at all levels. We already saw how the police are prompt to arrest political opponents and have them locked up on a mere allegation. We also saw how those in power enjoy a quasi-total immunity. We have become quite acquainted with the inquiries that drag on forever both at the level of the police and that of the ICAC when powerful people are implicated. With the Dip Kid case, we have woken up to a new reality. That even when those in power have been convicted, they can benefit from an extrajudicial decision that overrules even the verdict of the Supreme Court and in a way legally usurps the powers of the judiciary. All this is done in secrecy and total opacity.

If I were a magistrate or a judge who bravely and honestly handed down a sentence or upheld it in spite of pressure and temptation and saw my efforts towards creating a clean society being demolished by political nominees, I would be gutted and completely discouraged.

I sincerely hope our magistrates and judges take it on the chin and continue to soldier on.