Douglas Leys, Jamaica's solicitor general, is regarded as a thoughtful, thorough but intellectually nimble lawyer, who is nearly as adept at the workings of international treaties to which Jamaican is signatory, as with the mundane issues of the domestic bar.

No one, insofar as we are aware, has ever accused Mr Leys of being dilatory in his work, unless you assume that was the implication of Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne in her remark about Mr Leys' involvement in the Christopher 'Dudus' Coke extradition affair.

According to Ms Lightbourne, the request by the United States to extradite Mr Coke for allegedly smuggling narcotics into that country, and conspiring to export guns to Jamaica from that country was with "the solicitor general and the department that is doing the research". Which, we assume meant that Mr Leys and his officers had spent three weeks determining whether America's Justice and State departments had properly complied with the procedures for an extradition request.

By the way, it was something that the Americans have done scores of times, and to which the Jamaican authorities acceded 19 times in 2008. In other words, 19 Jamaicans were extradited to the United States last year to face criminal charges.

We can only come to the conclusion that Ms Lightbourne was passing the buck in a messy way and up to now has badly handled the matter that is embarrassing to Prime Minister Bruce Golding and potentially detrimental to Jamaica's national interest. But, to be fair to the Government, it did pull back from Minister Lightbourne's seemingly damaging imputation against Mr Leys, with the Office of the Prime Minister subsequently clarifying it was the attorney general who was vested with the "statutory discretion to commence extradition proceedings".

moral impotence

The Government has found itself in these twisted knots largely because of moral impotence and its fear of moving aggressively to extricate Jamaica from garrison politics, despite the past high-minded declarations of Prime Minster Bruce Golding.

Of course, we make no claims as to Christopher Dudus Coke's guilt or innocence. Indeed, if an order is signed, Mr Coke has the right to challenge the extradition in the Jamaican courts.

But Mr Coke, who declares himself a legitimate businessman, has his base in West Kingston and is particularly influential in that area of the city, and particularly Tivoli Gardens, a community fiercely loyal to Mr Golding's Jamaica Labour Party and considered by many to be the party's essential command centre. West Kingston is the constituency Mr Golding chose to 'inherit' when his predecessor, Edward Seaga, retired.

potent force

But Christopher Coke, whose father was the previous 'don' of West Kingston, and is loved for the largesse he is believed to have distributed, is held by many to be a more potent force in that section of the city than any political leader, and perhaps even the coercive arms of the state. The concern is that a move against Mr Coke could lead to unrest. Supposedly intellectual leaders have counselled negotiations.

So, Mr Golding finds himself in a dilemma and on this, his first serious political challenge, the PM vacillates.

There are twin dangers here: the ceding of the authority of the state, or parts thereof, to those whose legitimacy is based in muscle; and, the treatment of Jamaica as an untrustworthy partner.

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