Tweet
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>It's not enough!</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>J'cans unhappy with gov't's Trafigura explanation</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Friday, November 03, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>A significant percentage of Jamaicans said they were either not satisfied with the government's explanation of the explosive Trafigura incident, or wanted more information, according to the latest Stone Poll results.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Forty-two per cent of Jamaicans polled said that they were not satisfied with the Government's explanation of the Trafigura incident and almost 52 per cent would like to get more details on the affair.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=400 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Digital Graphics: Mark Dennis</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>The Trafigura incident severely damaged the image of the Portia Simpson Miller administration, forcing the resignation of Information and Development Minister Colin Campbell, who also gave up his job as general-secretary of the ruling People's National Party (PNP).<P class=StoryText align=justify>Campbell, who has tenaciously held onto his position as senator, conceded that he had not fully informed the party's senior officers about the donation.
The poll was conducted October 21-25, using a representative sample of 1,473 eligible voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.<P class=StoryText align=justify>According to the Stone Polling Organisation, when asked 'Are you satisfied with the Government's explanation of the Trafigura incident?' only 14.4 per cent of the respondents said 'yes', while 43.6 per cent either didn't know or offered no answer.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=400 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>When asked if they would like to get more details of the Trafigura incident, 51.6 per cent of those polled said 'yes', 9.7 per cent said 'no', and 38.6 per cent either did not know or offered no answer.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Government has been in a hole since October 3 when Opposition Leader Bruce Golding revealed that Dutch oil trader Trafigura Beheer BV, which has a contract to lift and sell Nigerian supplied crude for Jamaica on the world market, had donated $31 million to the PNP.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The PNP has said that the money was for electioneering, but Trafigura subsequently claimed that it was payment on a commercial transaction. Since then, PNP president and prime minister Simpson Miller has ordered the money returned.
The scandal resulted in the Opposition moving an unsuccessful no-confidence motion against the Government, which has maintained that its dealings with the Dutch firm were proper and above board.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Last week, Campbell's replacement, Donald Buchanan, had declared that the Trafigura issue was "dead". However, on Wednesday, Dr Ruth Potopsingh, managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), said that officials from the Office of the Contractor-General arrived unannounced at the PCJ on Monday, demanding information about the PCJ deal with Trafigura.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The contractor-general had said that he would be investigating all contracts entered into by the PCJ for a number of years, to ensure probity.
On Sunday: Who suffered more from the Trafigura incident, Portia or Bruce?<P class=StoryText align=justify>Stone Poll Team<
<SPAN class=Subheadline>J'cans unhappy with gov't's Trafigura explanation</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Friday, November 03, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>A significant percentage of Jamaicans said they were either not satisfied with the government's explanation of the explosive Trafigura incident, or wanted more information, according to the latest Stone Poll results.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Forty-two per cent of Jamaicans polled said that they were not satisfied with the Government's explanation of the Trafigura incident and almost 52 per cent would like to get more details on the affair.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=400 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Digital Graphics: Mark Dennis</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>The Trafigura incident severely damaged the image of the Portia Simpson Miller administration, forcing the resignation of Information and Development Minister Colin Campbell, who also gave up his job as general-secretary of the ruling People's National Party (PNP).<P class=StoryText align=justify>Campbell, who has tenaciously held onto his position as senator, conceded that he had not fully informed the party's senior officers about the donation.The poll was conducted October 21-25, using a representative sample of 1,473 eligible voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.<P class=StoryText align=justify>According to the Stone Polling Organisation, when asked 'Are you satisfied with the Government's explanation of the Trafigura incident?' only 14.4 per cent of the respondents said 'yes', while 43.6 per cent either didn't know or offered no answer.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=400 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>When asked if they would like to get more details of the Trafigura incident, 51.6 per cent of those polled said 'yes', 9.7 per cent said 'no', and 38.6 per cent either did not know or offered no answer.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Government has been in a hole since October 3 when Opposition Leader Bruce Golding revealed that Dutch oil trader Trafigura Beheer BV, which has a contract to lift and sell Nigerian supplied crude for Jamaica on the world market, had donated $31 million to the PNP.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The PNP has said that the money was for electioneering, but Trafigura subsequently claimed that it was payment on a commercial transaction. Since then, PNP president and prime minister Simpson Miller has ordered the money returned.The scandal resulted in the Opposition moving an unsuccessful no-confidence motion against the Government, which has maintained that its dealings with the Dutch firm were proper and above board.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Last week, Campbell's replacement, Donald Buchanan, had declared that the Trafigura issue was "dead". However, on Wednesday, Dr Ruth Potopsingh, managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), said that officials from the Office of the Contractor-General arrived unannounced at the PCJ on Monday, demanding information about the PCJ deal with Trafigura.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The contractor-general had said that he would be investigating all contracts entered into by the PCJ for a number of years, to ensure probity.
On Sunday: Who suffered more from the Trafigura incident, Portia or Bruce?<P class=StoryText align=justify>Stone Poll Team<
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Geof Brown </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>His column in the Sunday Gleaner of October 29, "Fairy godmothers, sheep and goats", left me wondering how sober he was when he penned the piece. Reviewing the worth of some 50 fellow-columnists ("sheep and goats"), my esteemed K O'B managed to substitute quantity for quality in sweeping yet shallow generalisations, devoid of any depth of analysis as one was accustomed to expect of him.<P class=StoryText align=justify>He was dealing with the manner in which the "goats" failed to attack the government vigorously in the style he would have preferred in the matter of the Trafigura affair. The "sheep" on the other hand met his standard for what Ian Boyne (writing in the same paper on the same day) might have termed a "predominantly visceral and glandular point of view". (See further reference below.)<P class=StoryText align=justify>Lumping together sets of opinion commentators, Kevin deserted good sense for quick despatch of those he condemned in a rather cavalier fashion. Never mind that his choice of metaphor has the usually gentle sheep being the heavily aggressive attackers.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Columnist Devon Dick of the Gleaner has already dealt with the unfairness of Kevin's treatment in lumping him with the sheep group which included Ian Boyne, Garnet Roper, Peter Espeut, Henley Morgan and Michael Burke. O'Brien's put-down of that group was in these words: "(They). seem more like comrades at mass. Trafigura was to them about campaign finance and banking secrecy, not corruption."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Even a careless reader would immediately be suspicious of the thoughtfulness - or lack of it - involved in lumping that peculiar set in one and the same blameworthy grouping. For most of the members of the group are famous for their writings against corruption. But read Devon Dick's response in his column ("Kevin O, Trafigura and me") Gleaner, October 31.<P class=StoryText align=justify>In my case I was lumped with Garth Rattray, Dennie Quill and Vernon Daley for the serious sin that "taking the Trafigura money was wrong, but so was breaking bank secrecy laws and/or the real issue is campaign reform".<P class=StoryText align=justify>But in a special sub-set of the lumped group, my company as a part of "the University of the West Indies intelligentsia" was composed of Robert Buddan, Orville Taylor, Trevor Munroe and Kingsley Stewart (rather good company, I must interject, even though I retired as a UWI lecturer many moons ago). For "mostly agreeing" with the sin of the first three in this lumping, our UWI group was dismissed, not to mention "dissed" in these words: "But if this is the kind of logic and ethics they teach at Mona, God help our students." By now you will notice more than a touch of self-righteousness in K O'B's swipes against his two anointed goat groups.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The real problem here it seems is that Kevin, like far too many Jamaicans, may be more impressed by the language of rant than that of cool analysis. Ian Boyne, also in the Sunday Gleaner of October 29 ("Integrity and Media Bias") noted: "When it come
Comment