As Barbados Attorney General Dale Marshall yesterday sought to explain to his Parliament how blindsided both he and Prime Minister Mia Mottley were on the Brent Thomas fiasco, he only provided us with more reason to believe the governments and state authorities of T&T and Barbados acted incompetently.
AG Marshall told his Parliament that the first time either he or Ms Mottley heard about the matter was when it appeared in the T&T media last week, a full six months after Thomas was deported from Barbados to T&T.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has already taken a similar position, being unaware until recently that this happened in October last year.
After Marshall's address, we can only be left to wonder how such a major slip-up happened under the noses of countries' leaders.
It is simply not enough to seek to exonerate oneself and pass blame when the buck stops with those charged with upholding the rights of Caricom citizens.
Frighteningly now, from AG Marshall's explanation, we are left to believe a T&T citizen can be detained, arrested and deported from his country only on the request of a T&T police officer flashing arrest warrants to Barbados police.
At no time, AG Marshall said, was an extradition request made, something he agreed "fell short of acceptable legal norms."
This is a serious breach with far-reaching implications that highlight the absence of proper checks and balances.
How to begin with, could the T&TPS fail to prevent someone from leaving the country, only to seek to have him deported? That such an operation could then be carried out outside the knowledge of Government officials is an indictment on both nations.
AG Marshall, recognising the negative impact this matter can have on his country, has already received reports from his Commissioner of Police, the Caricom Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (Caricom Impacs), the Regional Security System (RSS) and the Ministry of National Security.
The reports suggest T&T police officers contacted Caricom Impacs seeking to initiate the process, following which Caricom Impacs contacted the Barbados police, before police officers from the two nations conversed on the matter. The RSS was then asked to provide an aircraft that flew T&T police officers from T&T to Barbados for the handover of Mr Thomas at the Grantley Adams International Airport. But neither Caricom Impacs nor the RSS are laws unto themselves and answer to the Caricom Council for National Security and Law Enforcement, which comprises Caricom National Security Ministers.
That Council, in turn, reports to the lead Caricom Head of Government responsible for crime and security, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who was holding that position in October last year when the operation took place.
It is astounding, therefore, that both Caricom Impacs and the RSS could have undertaken a cross-border 'abduction' and deportation without informing those up the chain of command in both countries.
The rabbit hole has gotten a little deeper, as AG Marshall's address has only presented us with more questions about the functioning of our security agencies and about who is telling the truth about the operation.
Taking the words of calypsonian Roderick 'Chucky' Gordon in his 2023 composition, the 'maths is simply not mathsing'.