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I have long felt tat Ian Boyne is another pompous ass. His latest writing confirms this. Does he truly believe that the JLP has "misfired badly and miscalculated horrendously on the propaganda value of this 'revelation'"? Read the bumbling article only if you have time.
The Golding gift
published: Sunday | October 8, 2006
Ian Boyne
Bruce Golding succeeded in diverting attention from the censure motion against his point man Karl Samuda and kept the General Secretary off the front pages, but at a very high cost.
Speaking in sonorous tones, with his brow appropriately knitted and his nose upturned from the apparently stifling scent of corruption, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding, surrounded by a grim-looking cast, could well have been nominated for the Oscars. But Golding had more in mind than play-acting.
His call was for nothing less than the resignation of the entire Government: "Madam Prime Minister, it is necessary now for you to advise the Governor-General," he instructed, "to issue a proclamation to dissolve this Parliament so that elections can be held forthwith and so that the people of Jamaica can elect a Government that is worthy of their trust." He was not over.
IMMUNITY TO SCANDALS
"This Government has acquired immunity to scandals, but there comes a time when enough is enough. That time has come! It is time for this wretched Government to go". Who said Golding was irredeemably boring and had no flair for the dramatic?
By the next morning it had become abundantly clear that the Jamaica Labour Party did not really have the Mother of all Scandals to force Sista P to call the elections, for which the JLP has already been heavily campaigning, and which it has been hungering for the way jihadists hunger for virgins in Allah's paradise.
Not only is there nothing illegal or provably untoward about the contribution of J$31 million from Trafigura Beheer, the Dutch trading firm, but not an iota of evidence has been provided by Mr. Golding to show any kickback arrangement.
RUNNING FOR COVER
At the end of the week Golding was virtually running for cover, having misfired badly and miscalculated horrendously on the propaganda value of this 'revelation'. But I am not going to 'kill' Golding over this. I leave that to the angry PNP supporters.
I believe Golding has inadvertently handed us a gift more favourable than the one given by Trafigura to the PNP.He has forced a national discussion on campaign financing and if we could just go a little further to the whole issue of money, politics and ethics, that would be grand. Though I fear that this myopic and tribalised society, with its undereducated chattering classes, will have neither the interest nor inclination for a serious philosophical discussion of some broader issues.
JLP apologists in the media say a discussion of the issue of public financing of political parties is merely diversionary and we should really concentrate on the appropriateness of the huge gift(in Jamaican dollar terms at least) from the Dutch company. But it is puerile propaganda and dishonesty to ignore the issue of campaign financing and to concentrate on this contribution to the PNP, for if there is no set of agreed guidelines on accepting contributions, on what grounds is the mere receipt of contributions from abroad sleazy and slimy? That's arrant nonsense.
It is a given that Tafigura was not merely being altruistic when it gave the PNP the $31 million. It did not give the PNP that money just because the company, like the PNP Party President, loves poor people and believes, like Portia, that the PNP is the best hope for Jamaica's poor. Trafigura gave the money to have some influence over the Government and to buy favour and goodwill. Let us not deny that and if the PNP propagandists believe they can spin it otherwise, they have little respect for the intelligence of the Jamaican people.
But Trafigura's motive is no different from the motives of the local comp
The Golding gift
published: Sunday | October 8, 2006
Ian Boyne
Bruce Golding succeeded in diverting attention from the censure motion against his point man Karl Samuda and kept the General Secretary off the front pages, but at a very high cost.
Speaking in sonorous tones, with his brow appropriately knitted and his nose upturned from the apparently stifling scent of corruption, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding, surrounded by a grim-looking cast, could well have been nominated for the Oscars. But Golding had more in mind than play-acting.
His call was for nothing less than the resignation of the entire Government: "Madam Prime Minister, it is necessary now for you to advise the Governor-General," he instructed, "to issue a proclamation to dissolve this Parliament so that elections can be held forthwith and so that the people of Jamaica can elect a Government that is worthy of their trust." He was not over.
IMMUNITY TO SCANDALS
"This Government has acquired immunity to scandals, but there comes a time when enough is enough. That time has come! It is time for this wretched Government to go". Who said Golding was irredeemably boring and had no flair for the dramatic?
By the next morning it had become abundantly clear that the Jamaica Labour Party did not really have the Mother of all Scandals to force Sista P to call the elections, for which the JLP has already been heavily campaigning, and which it has been hungering for the way jihadists hunger for virgins in Allah's paradise.
Not only is there nothing illegal or provably untoward about the contribution of J$31 million from Trafigura Beheer, the Dutch trading firm, but not an iota of evidence has been provided by Mr. Golding to show any kickback arrangement.
RUNNING FOR COVER
At the end of the week Golding was virtually running for cover, having misfired badly and miscalculated horrendously on the propaganda value of this 'revelation'. But I am not going to 'kill' Golding over this. I leave that to the angry PNP supporters.
I believe Golding has inadvertently handed us a gift more favourable than the one given by Trafigura to the PNP.He has forced a national discussion on campaign financing and if we could just go a little further to the whole issue of money, politics and ethics, that would be grand. Though I fear that this myopic and tribalised society, with its undereducated chattering classes, will have neither the interest nor inclination for a serious philosophical discussion of some broader issues.
JLP apologists in the media say a discussion of the issue of public financing of political parties is merely diversionary and we should really concentrate on the appropriateness of the huge gift(in Jamaican dollar terms at least) from the Dutch company. But it is puerile propaganda and dishonesty to ignore the issue of campaign financing and to concentrate on this contribution to the PNP, for if there is no set of agreed guidelines on accepting contributions, on what grounds is the mere receipt of contributions from abroad sleazy and slimy? That's arrant nonsense.
It is a given that Tafigura was not merely being altruistic when it gave the PNP the $31 million. It did not give the PNP that money just because the company, like the PNP Party President, loves poor people and believes, like Portia, that the PNP is the best hope for Jamaica's poor. Trafigura gave the money to have some influence over the Government and to buy favour and goodwill. Let us not deny that and if the PNP propagandists believe they can spin it otherwise, they have little respect for the intelligence of the Jamaican people.
But Trafigura's motive is no different from the motives of the local comp
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