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EDITORIAL
The gig is up, Prime Minister
Sunday, May 16, 2010
We wonder if the 'Shower delegates' of Prime Minister Bruce Golding's horribly wrong West Kingston garrison really meant it when they told the media on Friday that their leader would not be stepping down.
Could it really be that their bold declarations, issued from the inside of Mr Golding's Vale Royal residence, where so-called 'crisis talks' to decide his political future were simultaneously taking place, were indicative of yet another orchestrated facade in this ugly chapter of our history?
Considering how Mr Golding's Cabinet has lined up in support of his attempt to frustrate the US extradition request for Mr Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the strongman of West Kingston, to answer charges of drug- and gun-running, we wouldn't be surprised.
Assuming then that the talks, which are scheduled to end today, are a sham, the question for Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and the rest of us remains: What are we going to do about it?
Do we renounce our stance against the brand of criminality that garrison politics represents and cheer, hours from now, when Mr Golding emerges from his 'talks' to tell us that he has been 'persuaded' to stay on despite the numerous calls for his resignation?
Or do we continue, through the democratic channels that for the time being remain available to us, to resist the thuggery which he has, by his actions, outrightly embraced?
For that is the crossroads to which we have come in the wake of Mr Golding's admission Tuesday that he had a hand in the hiring of US law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips on Mr Coke's behalf.
Contrary to the simplistic view being bandied about by some, Mr Golding was not being honest or forthright with his crafty attempt to cut a distinction between his role as leader of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and Prime Minister in Parliament on Tuesday. And far from laying all his cards on the table, Mr Golding, we believe, is still holding those that are most damaging close to his chest. In the meantime, we are still trying to understand the several questions which his 'admission' in Parliament raised.
Like why he commissioned Mr Karl Samuda, the general secretary of the JLP, to investigate a matter that he had already sanctioned.
Why, if not to deceive, would he do that? Is it that he sanctioned the hiring of Manatt as party leader and ordered the investigation into it as prime minister?
Then, more frighteningly, there's the request that Mr Golding, on behalf of the Government, made for the identity of the policeman who participated in the process of gathering evidence to support the US' request for Mr Coke.
Did he want that in his capacity as prime minister or party leader? What, in either role, did he intend to do with said information?
How, in the light of these and the host of other questions hanging over this saga, can we take seriously any statement coming from Mr Golding and his Cabinet against garrison politics and organised crime?
That Mr Coke, who we maintain is presumed innocent until proven guilty, will have to face the courts to answer the accusations being levelled against him is inevitable. It always has been.
That there are those who are still seeking to procure a contrary outcome is proof of an extraordinary illustration of the folly that follows when those who really should know better, fail to realise that the gig is up.
The gig is up, Prime Minister
Sunday, May 16, 2010
We wonder if the 'Shower delegates' of Prime Minister Bruce Golding's horribly wrong West Kingston garrison really meant it when they told the media on Friday that their leader would not be stepping down.
Could it really be that their bold declarations, issued from the inside of Mr Golding's Vale Royal residence, where so-called 'crisis talks' to decide his political future were simultaneously taking place, were indicative of yet another orchestrated facade in this ugly chapter of our history?
Considering how Mr Golding's Cabinet has lined up in support of his attempt to frustrate the US extradition request for Mr Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the strongman of West Kingston, to answer charges of drug- and gun-running, we wouldn't be surprised.
Assuming then that the talks, which are scheduled to end today, are a sham, the question for Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and the rest of us remains: What are we going to do about it?
Do we renounce our stance against the brand of criminality that garrison politics represents and cheer, hours from now, when Mr Golding emerges from his 'talks' to tell us that he has been 'persuaded' to stay on despite the numerous calls for his resignation?
Or do we continue, through the democratic channels that for the time being remain available to us, to resist the thuggery which he has, by his actions, outrightly embraced?
For that is the crossroads to which we have come in the wake of Mr Golding's admission Tuesday that he had a hand in the hiring of US law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips on Mr Coke's behalf.
Contrary to the simplistic view being bandied about by some, Mr Golding was not being honest or forthright with his crafty attempt to cut a distinction between his role as leader of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and Prime Minister in Parliament on Tuesday. And far from laying all his cards on the table, Mr Golding, we believe, is still holding those that are most damaging close to his chest. In the meantime, we are still trying to understand the several questions which his 'admission' in Parliament raised.
Like why he commissioned Mr Karl Samuda, the general secretary of the JLP, to investigate a matter that he had already sanctioned.
Why, if not to deceive, would he do that? Is it that he sanctioned the hiring of Manatt as party leader and ordered the investigation into it as prime minister?
Then, more frighteningly, there's the request that Mr Golding, on behalf of the Government, made for the identity of the policeman who participated in the process of gathering evidence to support the US' request for Mr Coke.
Did he want that in his capacity as prime minister or party leader? What, in either role, did he intend to do with said information?
How, in the light of these and the host of other questions hanging over this saga, can we take seriously any statement coming from Mr Golding and his Cabinet against garrison politics and organised crime?
That Mr Coke, who we maintain is presumed innocent until proven guilty, will have to face the courts to answer the accusations being levelled against him is inevitable. It always has been.
That there are those who are still seeking to procure a contrary outcome is proof of an extraordinary illustration of the folly that follows when those who really should know better, fail to realise that the gig is up.
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