As advocates of a healthy democracy we always try to facilitate the views of others, even when we passionately disagree with their timing and content. For we do not consider it our prerogative to go beyond the boundaries established by the legislature in the inescapable censoring exercise that goes with our job.

That is why we carried the exclusive interview that Mr Tom Tavares Finson, Government senator and attorney-at-law for Mr Christoper ‘Dudus’ Coke, granted this newspaper, in our most recent Sunday edition.

It doesn’t follow that we took any pleasure in doing so.

In fact, we were quite pained by the inappropriateness of his commentary, which, if taken for granted, begs several questions.

According to Mr Finson, who chairs the Senate’s Regulations Committee and sits on its Privileges Committee, Mr Coke, for whom the United States Government has made an extradition request to face accusations of arms- and drug-trafficking, is just an ordinary Jamaican.

Then he proceeds to paint an extraordinary picture of this man, which would qualify him for national honours at the least, if not the Nobel Peace Prize.

“…essentially he has overseen the transformation of a community riddled with criminality and violence into a place where people can make money,” says Mr Finson.

If that is the case, why has Mr Coke been overlooked, year after year, by the national awards committee? Let’s face it, awards have been made for far more modest achievements.

Why hasn’t the Government appointed him — officially — to advise and guide the country out of its undeniable financial and social misery? Isn’t this, after all, what we all want, a crime-free environment in which we can make money?

We are sure that if the Government were to give an honest answer to these questions, the controversy would be settled immediately, one way or the other.

In any case, even if the Government dared to come out with an answer to these questions, we would still have to take issue with Mr Finson’s dual role as Government senator and defence attorney for Mr Coke. Never mind the talk about best extradition attorney and all that. The fact of the matter is that as a member of the Government that will answer the USA’s request, Mr Finson’s role as defender of the object of said request cannot — on an objective view — be classified as appropriate.

For if the request is denied, the question of Mr Finson’s influence will arise.

If the request is granted, one must of necessity wonder, given his passionately stated belief about the mala fides of the request, if he can really continue to occupy a place in the Upper House.

In the meantime, we will continue to encourage people like Pastor Knollis King, Snr of the Rose Heights United Full Gospel Church of God, who according to yesterday’s edition of our sister title, the Observer West, has reaped some measure of success through several peace-keeping initiatives that he has undertaken in the once war-torn inner-city community of Rose Heights.

Keep up the good work, pastor.