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EVEN as he apologised for his lapse last week, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi dug in his heels.
“Though no law was broken I should have done better and unreservedly apologise!” Mr Al-Rawi said on Sunday, somewhat passive-aggressively, hours after the Prime Minister had issued the clearest of rebukes. He was, he said, disappointed in the AG.
At issue was no law. At issue was the example set.
Mr Al-Rawi, apology notwithstanding, made plain that he saw things differently, saying temperatures at last Thursday’s social media event were taken, hands sanitised, and, besides, the regulations – drafted by his office – are blurry.
This was actually the second time in the space of 24 hours that the Cabinet’s second most senior official found himself at odds with Dr Rowley.
On Saturday, the Attorney General had also done the same thing, mouthing “support” for “the Prime Minister’s call,” but then saying his celebrity lime “was no different from sitting down in a restaurant and having a conversation.”
These repeated patterns on the part of Mr Al-Rawi suggest, despite his avowals of loyalty, nothing short of open defiance and a breakdown of his relationship with the head of the Cabinet.
But if the Attorney General’s actions over the weekend were unsatisfactory, his conduct last Thursday was injudicious and poorly timed, and for reasons not limited to covid19.
The tenor of the event itself sent off-key signals. On display during this Instagram “live” event was much macho carrying-on, with the titular head of the Bar acting like one of the boys and saying he would like to arm-wrestle Opposition MPs (we might assume he forgot, in the heat of the moment, the existence of numerous female parliamentarians.)
“The six of us had a fantastic time but ‘The Men In Black’ reigned supreme,” Mr Al-Rawi gloated in a social media post. “Better luck next time, boys!”
Mr Al-Rawi was reappointed after last year’s general election amid noise over Cabinet transactions – often involving property – which prompted repeated recusals from Cabinet meetings on his part. Government assured such recusals were not unusual.
The Prime Minister’s show of faith in his attorney general became a key feature defining Dr Rowley's tenure. Prime ministers are loath to remove attorneys general because such a removal is sometimes seen as tantamount to a collapse of government: there is no duly constituted Cabinet without an attorney general.
At a time when the country’s covid19 numbers are rising, vaccines to date conspicuous by their wholesale absence and rule-breakers escaping without penalty, the State as a whole is battling to maintain its credibility. The Attorney General’s indiscipline not only sets the wrong example, but it is effectively a dagger to the heart of the administration he serves.
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