Scotland’s inept Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill has washed his hands’ over armed police fiasco, par for the course, Scotland has been without a Justice Minister since 2007, MacAskill is destroying his brief to escape the Al Megrahi legacy, that stigma will stick to him forever, so he might as well do his paid job

Dear All

Scotland has been without a Justice Minister since 2007.

There is someone drawing the salary, his name is Kenny ¬MacAskill.

Kenny ¬MacAskill is famous for release the worst terrorist ever held in Scottish custody and then letting him left the jurisdiction of Scotland.

Al Megrahi is Kenny MacAskill’s shame, his stigma, his legacy.

After this incident, MacAskill has been trying to erase the stigma by leaving another legacy, destroying Scotland’s Justice System.

But, no matter what he does, the stigma of Al Megrahi will be around him to the day he dies.

Not a man to leave a thing part destroyed, Kenny ¬MacAskill has been quick off his mark to further the reasons why he should be sacked.

He has accused of “washing his hands” over armed police on Scotland’s streets.

Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman, Graeme Pearson, said Mr MacAskill was ¬“apathetic” to an issue which had caused huge public concern.

The arming of Scottish Police on the streets has been badly botched by the Chief Constable, and MacAskill really has been apathetic. In September 2010, I proposed the Scottish National Police Force at the SNP National Assembly, stage one was the creation of the force. Stage two involved further reforms, one of which was the armed force; post independence. This was because the Scottish army would be small and the Police would serve in time of war as a secondary force who would be weapons trained.

There would be no armed police force prior to independence because of lack of consultation, other than regular trained officers.

One of the PR disasters has been armed officers attending a routine incident at a McDonald’s in Inverness.

Also the motorist in Aberdeen who said he was questioned by four armed ¬officers over an alleged traffic ¬offence.

It doesn’t take four armed officers to do a traffic stop.

Labour MSP Graeme Pearson, a former police officer and director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug ¬Enforcement Agency, says MacAskill appears to be ¬“entirely disinterested”, however we should remember that if the Labour Party was in power, they too would be entirely disinterested as well.
The difference is that it would be their Justice Minister passing the buck. Pearson says received a letter from MacAskill which said the matter was one for Sir Stephen House, chief constable of Police ¬Scotland.

Pearson said:

“Kenny ¬MacAskill has completely washed his hands of all responsibility and appears to be entirely disinterested in an issue which has sparked significant public concern and calls for improved accountability at a local and national level. The operational independence afforded to Police Scotland should not extend to fundamentally changing the nature of -policing. Policing by consent has long been one of the central tenets of law enforcement in Scotland, but this can only be delivered when consultation with the democratic processes are delivered before action, not simply in hindsight.”

You should remember what Pearson says incase Labour win in 2016 because they wouldn’t do anything different, therefore Pearso’s intervention is not only meaningless, it is also bizarre.

As to the call for ¬MacAskill to appear before ¬Holyrood instead of “passing the buck” to Police Scotland, there might at some stage be a ‘show’ that achieves nothing if enough media interest takes hold.

MacAskill has said:

“On issues of operational independence, ¬effective governance and scrutiny, the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 clearly establishes that the chief constable is responsible and must account to the Scottish Police Authority for the policing of Scotland.”

Begs the question why MacAskill is still in place and why we should be paying him a salary!

The reason we are paying this deadbeat a salary is because he is the pal of Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond.

Salmond’s Cabinet is a Cronies’ Cabinet in which for the most part there is very little talent with a few exceptions.

Not the best of the best and certainly not talented.

MackAskill has lost control of his brief then you could argue, he never had it in the first place.

At present the Scottish Government has been shut for the last three years as the SNP are all out chasing independence, Scotland's on pause.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University