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EDITORIAL - Full disclosure needed
published: Wednesday | October 11, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
When Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller took the oath of office seven months ago, she repeated a pledge that she had made throughout her campaign for the presidency of the People's National Party (PNP) and, concomitantly, the head of government.
She would work tirelessly, Mrs. Simpson Miller said, to "end all corruption and extortion," both of which robbedJamaica of its economic potential and sapped its capacity for development.
As she faces her first major crisis as party and government leader, Mrs. Simpson Miller has a great opportunity to show that her statement was more than words if she is to win back the trust and confidence of the Jamaican people. What she has to do is simple, but something that politicians, even those as charismatic and inherently popular as Mrs. Simpson Miller, usually find difficult to do. She has to come clean. Soon!
To do otherwise is to allow the slow haemorrhage of her government, leading, ultimately, to a deep sense of betrayal by those Jamaicans who invested so heavily, emotionally and otherwise, in Mrs. Simpson Miller and the renewal she promised. Her epitaph then would be: here lies the political remains of what might have been.
In that regard, Mrs. Simpson Miller has to be bold and courageous, giving Jamaicans all the facts behind the $31 million 'donation' to her party by Trafigura Beheer, which the commodities trader initially said was payment to persons with PNP connections for services rendered. The Dutch company has since waffled its way to a suggestion that it knew all along that the money was being given to politically-connected people to finance their party.
As a start, the Prime Minister must say what it is that Mr. Colin Campbell, the fallen information minister and PNP general secretary, failed to tell other party officials about the Trafigura deal, for which he apologised in his letter of resignation. All documentation, including any invoices to Trafigura, should be laid bare. The chips, if they fall, must fall where they may.
Mrs. Simpson Miller should order that her party, if, indeed, it has nothing to hide, open its books, showing contributions, at least since she became its president and Prime Minister of the country. She should try to negotiate an agreement for disclosure with earlier donors who may have received undertakings of confidentiality.
Mrs. Simpson Miller should, even ahead of any legislation on the matter, set new guidelines, based on transparency, for donations to the PNP. This should include an audited register of donors, which it would undertake to file, perhaps quarterly, with the Electoral Advisory Committee.
Additionally, limits on the donations accepted by the party would give credence to the Prime Minister's assertion that the campaign is to be financed primarily by poor, ordinary Jamaicans. This would force the PNP to return to core supporters for financing and lessen its reliance on those who would buy influence.
Mrs. Simpson Miller should also become the poster girl for campaign finance legislation, driving hard for laws to weaken the capacity of those with the wherewithal, foreign or local, to provide us with the best democracy money can buy. As much as Mrs. Simpson Miller may distrust the motives of the leader of the Chamber of Commerce, she should swallow hard, and begin a process of engagement on their proposal. <HR>The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.</DIV>
published: Wednesday | October 11, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
When Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller took the oath of office seven months ago, she repeated a pledge that she had made throughout her campaign for the presidency of the People's National Party (PNP) and, concomitantly, the head of government.
She would work tirelessly, Mrs. Simpson Miller said, to "end all corruption and extortion," both of which robbedJamaica of its economic potential and sapped its capacity for development.
As she faces her first major crisis as party and government leader, Mrs. Simpson Miller has a great opportunity to show that her statement was more than words if she is to win back the trust and confidence of the Jamaican people. What she has to do is simple, but something that politicians, even those as charismatic and inherently popular as Mrs. Simpson Miller, usually find difficult to do. She has to come clean. Soon!
To do otherwise is to allow the slow haemorrhage of her government, leading, ultimately, to a deep sense of betrayal by those Jamaicans who invested so heavily, emotionally and otherwise, in Mrs. Simpson Miller and the renewal she promised. Her epitaph then would be: here lies the political remains of what might have been.
In that regard, Mrs. Simpson Miller has to be bold and courageous, giving Jamaicans all the facts behind the $31 million 'donation' to her party by Trafigura Beheer, which the commodities trader initially said was payment to persons with PNP connections for services rendered. The Dutch company has since waffled its way to a suggestion that it knew all along that the money was being given to politically-connected people to finance their party.
As a start, the Prime Minister must say what it is that Mr. Colin Campbell, the fallen information minister and PNP general secretary, failed to tell other party officials about the Trafigura deal, for which he apologised in his letter of resignation. All documentation, including any invoices to Trafigura, should be laid bare. The chips, if they fall, must fall where they may.
Mrs. Simpson Miller should order that her party, if, indeed, it has nothing to hide, open its books, showing contributions, at least since she became its president and Prime Minister of the country. She should try to negotiate an agreement for disclosure with earlier donors who may have received undertakings of confidentiality.
Mrs. Simpson Miller should, even ahead of any legislation on the matter, set new guidelines, based on transparency, for donations to the PNP. This should include an audited register of donors, which it would undertake to file, perhaps quarterly, with the Electoral Advisory Committee.
Additionally, limits on the donations accepted by the party would give credence to the Prime Minister's assertion that the campaign is to be financed primarily by poor, ordinary Jamaicans. This would force the PNP to return to core supporters for financing and lessen its reliance on those who would buy influence.
Mrs. Simpson Miller should also become the poster girl for campaign finance legislation, driving hard for laws to weaken the capacity of those with the wherewithal, foreign or local, to provide us with the best democracy money can buy. As much as Mrs. Simpson Miller may distrust the motives of the leader of the Chamber of Commerce, she should swallow hard, and begin a process of engagement on their proposal. <HR>The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.</DIV>
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