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Prime ministerial arbitrariness
published: Sunday | December 2, 2007
Dawn Ritch, Columnist
Since Bruce Golding has come to power, a lot has happened in three months. The police commissioner has resigned; the head of the Jamaica Defence Force has resigned; the president of Air Jamaica has resigned; a senior Cabinet minister has had a major part of his portfolio removed; the members of the Public Service Commission (PSC) have reportedly been asked to resign for alleged misconduct; and the Governor-General is being asked by the Prime Minister to take away the instruments of office of the latter should they fail to do so.
Nobody's quite clear about the reasons for all of the above. But we do have some inkling about the reasons for the last two.
The Prime Minister feels aggrieved by the recommendation made by the PSC of Professor Stephen Vasciannie as the next Solicitor General. Bear in mind that this is the body constitutionally responsible for making sensitive civil service appointments and protecting the holders of office from political interference. It could also be said that the Governor-General of Jamaica has no other purpose in life but to protect and to ensure the integrity of that commission.
It seems certain, therefore, that if Golding carries on the way he's been going, Jamaicans will be finding out all kinds of things about their Constitution that they didn't know before.
His actions suggest that he thinks the whole public service is rotten to the core. Or that these dramatic assaults upon public positions could be a public relations strategy in order to appear manly in the mirror.
trumpeting self-importance
Nevertheless, for a man who has trumpeted the importance of constitutional reform and the separation of powers, Golding is displaying an inordinate sense of his own self-importance. The most flattering interpretation can only be that he is just making things up on the fly.
Certainly, had Portia Simpson Miller tried any of these numbers when she was Prime Minister the press would not have wasted a second before excoriating her.
The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, to say nothing of Jamaicans For Justice, the Farquharson Institute, and the Jamaican Bar Association, would have held several press conferences long ago. They would have ominously warned the country about the dangers to the Jamaican Constitution of prime ministerial arbitrariness. Indeed, that's putting it mildly. Simpson Miller would have been accused of outright meddling, the exercise of undue influence, and personal vindictiveness. She would have had the book thrown at her.
Golding effortlessly rises above it all, keen to involve himself in every detail, and confident of the press' protection both for himself he doesn't know how to govern, and members of the first family they ought not to be living in sin.
It worries me greatly, therefore, that he has invented a new creature, doubtless to be one of statute, and to be known as the 'Prosecutor General'. What exactly is that, and why can't all the laws we already have deal with corruption? Is it so slippery a matter that not a single existing law or agency can get a grip on it?
The frenetic activity behind Golding's constitutional and legal tinkering underscores the fact that the country has become more ungovernable since he took office. Public agencies, private banks an investment schemes have public brawls week after week in press advertisements and media interviews. The rate of increase in murder is being driven harder, and the cost of diesel fuel far exceeds that of gasolene. This is mayhem.
rapid dollar slide
The only people making any money out of all of this are the bankers, and they are making a vast amount. And this while the Jamaican dollar continues its inexorable rapid slide into oblivion, without a single remark from either the Prime Minister or Minister of Finance, barring inane comments about termites and being 'man a yard' now. But to what end?
I'm grateful, therefore, to attorney-at-law and human rights activist Hilaire Sobers for his excellent rebuttal of a statement made by another lawyer, David Wong Ken, who is also chairman of Jamaicans For Justice, an organisation which in the past has constantly advocated human rights. The latter said on the morning radio show 'Breakfast Club' that Stephen Vasciannie should meet with the Prime Minister personally and if the two still could not agree on his becoming Solicitor-General "then ... the elegant thing for him to do is withdraw."
This means that despite having been duly and legally recommended by the committee constitutionally appointed to do so, people are actually encouraging Vasciannie to withdraw. The Prime Minister wants him to do so, the chairman of a human rights organisation wants him to do so, and so does the cartoonist for the Daily Observer.
Unctuously, Wong Ken said that no lawyer should wish to foist himself upon a client. It was Hilaire Sobers who pointed out that Bruce Golding is not acting in his own personal capacity. The client in the case of the Solicitor General is, therefore, not the Prime Minister, but the people of Jamaica. This means, in effect, that it does not matter whether or not the Prime Minister likes him.
power-hungry
Golding is the same person who championed constitutional reform, and called for a separation of powers. He'd prefer to be president of Jamaica, instead of Prime Minister. Prime Ministers, he used to say, have too much power under the Westminster model. But Golding has arrogated unto himself powers as Prime Minister that are not granted under our present Constitution. Making him president of a republic, therefore, would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
published: Sunday | December 2, 2007
Dawn Ritch, Columnist
Since Bruce Golding has come to power, a lot has happened in three months. The police commissioner has resigned; the head of the Jamaica Defence Force has resigned; the president of Air Jamaica has resigned; a senior Cabinet minister has had a major part of his portfolio removed; the members of the Public Service Commission (PSC) have reportedly been asked to resign for alleged misconduct; and the Governor-General is being asked by the Prime Minister to take away the instruments of office of the latter should they fail to do so.
Nobody's quite clear about the reasons for all of the above. But we do have some inkling about the reasons for the last two.
The Prime Minister feels aggrieved by the recommendation made by the PSC of Professor Stephen Vasciannie as the next Solicitor General. Bear in mind that this is the body constitutionally responsible for making sensitive civil service appointments and protecting the holders of office from political interference. It could also be said that the Governor-General of Jamaica has no other purpose in life but to protect and to ensure the integrity of that commission.
It seems certain, therefore, that if Golding carries on the way he's been going, Jamaicans will be finding out all kinds of things about their Constitution that they didn't know before.
His actions suggest that he thinks the whole public service is rotten to the core. Or that these dramatic assaults upon public positions could be a public relations strategy in order to appear manly in the mirror.
trumpeting self-importance
Nevertheless, for a man who has trumpeted the importance of constitutional reform and the separation of powers, Golding is displaying an inordinate sense of his own self-importance. The most flattering interpretation can only be that he is just making things up on the fly.
Certainly, had Portia Simpson Miller tried any of these numbers when she was Prime Minister the press would not have wasted a second before excoriating her.
The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, to say nothing of Jamaicans For Justice, the Farquharson Institute, and the Jamaican Bar Association, would have held several press conferences long ago. They would have ominously warned the country about the dangers to the Jamaican Constitution of prime ministerial arbitrariness. Indeed, that's putting it mildly. Simpson Miller would have been accused of outright meddling, the exercise of undue influence, and personal vindictiveness. She would have had the book thrown at her.
Golding effortlessly rises above it all, keen to involve himself in every detail, and confident of the press' protection both for himself he doesn't know how to govern, and members of the first family they ought not to be living in sin.
It worries me greatly, therefore, that he has invented a new creature, doubtless to be one of statute, and to be known as the 'Prosecutor General'. What exactly is that, and why can't all the laws we already have deal with corruption? Is it so slippery a matter that not a single existing law or agency can get a grip on it?
The frenetic activity behind Golding's constitutional and legal tinkering underscores the fact that the country has become more ungovernable since he took office. Public agencies, private banks an investment schemes have public brawls week after week in press advertisements and media interviews. The rate of increase in murder is being driven harder, and the cost of diesel fuel far exceeds that of gasolene. This is mayhem.
rapid dollar slide
The only people making any money out of all of this are the bankers, and they are making a vast amount. And this while the Jamaican dollar continues its inexorable rapid slide into oblivion, without a single remark from either the Prime Minister or Minister of Finance, barring inane comments about termites and being 'man a yard' now. But to what end?
I'm grateful, therefore, to attorney-at-law and human rights activist Hilaire Sobers for his excellent rebuttal of a statement made by another lawyer, David Wong Ken, who is also chairman of Jamaicans For Justice, an organisation which in the past has constantly advocated human rights. The latter said on the morning radio show 'Breakfast Club' that Stephen Vasciannie should meet with the Prime Minister personally and if the two still could not agree on his becoming Solicitor-General "then ... the elegant thing for him to do is withdraw."
This means that despite having been duly and legally recommended by the committee constitutionally appointed to do so, people are actually encouraging Vasciannie to withdraw. The Prime Minister wants him to do so, the chairman of a human rights organisation wants him to do so, and so does the cartoonist for the Daily Observer.
Unctuously, Wong Ken said that no lawyer should wish to foist himself upon a client. It was Hilaire Sobers who pointed out that Bruce Golding is not acting in his own personal capacity. The client in the case of the Solicitor General is, therefore, not the Prime Minister, but the people of Jamaica. This means, in effect, that it does not matter whether or not the Prime Minister likes him.
power-hungry
Golding is the same person who championed constitutional reform, and called for a separation of powers. He'd prefer to be president of Jamaica, instead of Prime Minister. Prime Ministers, he used to say, have too much power under the Westminster model. But Golding has arrogated unto himself powers as Prime Minister that are not granted under our present Constitution. Making him president of a republic, therefore, would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
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