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Church asks Bruce to step aside
Published: Saturday | May 15, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Writer
Prime Minister Bruce Golding yesterday bailed out of a scheduled meeting with church leaders.
A number of religious leaders were scheduled to meet with Golding to continue dialogue on issues affecting the country.
But late Thursday evening, they were told that the meeting had been cancelled.
According to Gleaner sources, the meeting was called off after it became clear that the church leaders wanted to put the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips issue on the agenda.
President of the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC), the Reverend Dr Paul Gardner, and well-known church leader, the Reverend Al Miller, told The Gleaner that they received calls indicating that the prime minister would not be able to make the meeting.
Miller downplayed Golding's absence, saying it was due to the prime minister's busy schedule, while Gardener was unable to give a reason for the postponement.
"I am sure it would have to be because of his schedule why he is unable to make it. It is not the first time we should have a meeting and something has come up," Miller said.
PM ducked?
But with several church leaders voicing their dissatisfaction with Golding's handling of the Manatt issue, there was wide speculation that the prime minister ducked what could have been an uncomfortable meeting.
Umbrella organisations of the Church, representing more than 70 per cent of church membership across the island
, have called on the prime minister to tender his resignation forthwith.
The JCC, the Church of God in Jamaica, the Jamaica
Association of Evangelicals, the Jamaica Association of Full Gospel Churches and the Jamaica Pentecostal Union said the heart of the matter was the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
The group said the prime minister must be held accountable because of his own previous assertion that the action of a party member could not be separated from his capacity as a minister.
"We find this current attempt, therefore, to separate these roles and functions as spurious and born purely of expediency," the group said.
"We are deeply disappointed at the way in which events have unfolded and are of the view that the actions have done serious damage to his credibility as prime minister and to the name and image of our country."
The group argued that given the prime minister's
"professed commitment to a new governance model - which includes his avowed commitment to stamping out corruption in every sphere of public life and the vexed and worrying perception of the nexus between politics
and crime in this country - the situation warrants a clear and unequivocal response."
- nadisha.hunter@gleanerjm.com
Published: Saturday | May 15, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Writer
Prime Minister Bruce Golding yesterday bailed out of a scheduled meeting with church leaders.
A number of religious leaders were scheduled to meet with Golding to continue dialogue on issues affecting the country.
But late Thursday evening, they were told that the meeting had been cancelled.
According to Gleaner sources, the meeting was called off after it became clear that the church leaders wanted to put the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips issue on the agenda.
President of the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC), the Reverend Dr Paul Gardner, and well-known church leader, the Reverend Al Miller, told The Gleaner that they received calls indicating that the prime minister would not be able to make the meeting.
Miller downplayed Golding's absence, saying it was due to the prime minister's busy schedule, while Gardener was unable to give a reason for the postponement.
"I am sure it would have to be because of his schedule why he is unable to make it. It is not the first time we should have a meeting and something has come up," Miller said.
PM ducked?
But with several church leaders voicing their dissatisfaction with Golding's handling of the Manatt issue, there was wide speculation that the prime minister ducked what could have been an uncomfortable meeting.
Umbrella organisations of the Church, representing more than 70 per cent of church membership across the island
, have called on the prime minister to tender his resignation forthwith.
The JCC, the Church of God in Jamaica, the Jamaica
Association of Evangelicals, the Jamaica Association of Full Gospel Churches and the Jamaica Pentecostal Union said the heart of the matter was the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
The group said the prime minister must be held accountable because of his own previous assertion that the action of a party member could not be separated from his capacity as a minister.
"We find this current attempt, therefore, to separate these roles and functions as spurious and born purely of expediency," the group said.
"We are deeply disappointed at the way in which events have unfolded and are of the view that the actions have done serious damage to his credibility as prime minister and to the name and image of our country."
The group argued that given the prime minister's
"professed commitment to a new governance model - which includes his avowed commitment to stamping out corruption in every sphere of public life and the vexed and worrying perception of the nexus between politics
and crime in this country - the situation warrants a clear and unequivocal response."
- nadisha.hunter@gleanerjm.com
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