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Tired a di Lying Labourites and Samfie Socialists!!! LoL
Samfie politics and bounce back
Published: Friday | May 21, 2010
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is comforted by the idea that Prime Minister Bruce Golding did not lie when he said that the Jamaican government did not hire Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP) since it was the "party" that hired the firm.
Orrett B. Golding may be morally satisfied with the idea that it was Bruce Golding the JLP leader that "sanctioned" the hiring of MPP to lobby the United States (US) government, not Bruce Golding, the prime minister, and that he is successfully wearing these two hats on his one head. But to most Jamaicans this sounds like ginnalship. Anancy may be our favourite national hero, but nobody likes to be taken in by a ginnal.
I can see that the JLP party hacks cannot understand why so many do not appreciate the fine distinctions in the prime minister's position. After all, technically the prime minister did not lie. No! He just pulled a fast one.
This, I believe, is why so many individuals and organisations last week called for the prime minister to resign. You think that you are dealing with someone who talks straight, and then you discover that words are being used to obfuscate rather than convey truth. You feel personally violated!
Now that we know who we are dealing with, we have to watch and weigh every word. Did MPP meet with members of the government? Well, no; it was not a formal meeting; it was a "social encounter" at a bar. That is not a lie, but the truth. There was no "meeting".
We are told that Dudus was not the source of the money that hired MPP.
Well then, was it one of the members of the Incomparable Enterprise Group? Not Dudus, but a company he owns? It would not surprise me, and the JLP would have told the truth.
The JLP press conference from Ocho Rios on the weekend was a big disappointment. The senior party officials who spoke to the press were clear: the prime minister did nothing wrong, and there will be no resignation and no apology. Should the prime minister resign, he will be replaced with someone from his party who believes that Bruce Golding did nothing wrong.
One samfie JLP politician will replace another. Will we be better off?
This kind of fancy footwork with the truth is characteristic of the sort of ginnal politics we have been dished out in Jamaica. Trafigura gives Colin Campbell our Candidate (CCOC) a donation of thirty-odd million US dollars; cheques are drawn on the CCOC account to the People's National Party (PNP).
Then the scandal breaks, and the PNP says they gave back the money. But to whom?
My sources tell me that the PNP returned the money to CCOC; they never got any money from Trafigura, so they can't return any money to Trafigura. The PNP has told the truth; they returned the money! What CCOC did with the money after the PNP returned it to them, well, that is another matter!
No moral authority
When is the PNP going to come clean about Trafigura? What was that deal really about? It certainly was not about lifting oil from Nigeria! Was it about bauxite? Solid waste disposal? The PNP will have no moral authority and no credibility until they come clean on this one.
And so replacing the JLP with the PNP means that one set of samfie
politicians will replace another. Will we be better off?
What we need is an end to samfie politics, and that is what the apologetic Mr Golding promised the nation on Monday. But can he be believed? Was that promise another samfie tactic? Mr Golding for months has been in possession of evidence (legally obtained) incriminating a Jamaican drug dealer and gunrunner and has not done anything about it. It stretches credibility.
The opportunistic PNP have now said that they are committed to breaking the connection between politics and criminality. That is just as incredible a claim, considering that they have three times as many garrison constituencies as the JLP, and have deepened their garrisons over their recent tenure. What concretely are they going to do? I think we will have a long wait to find out!
In the meantime, the garrison story come up to bump! The mother of all garrisons has barricaded itself, and will not easily give up its don. The father of all garrisons is secure with his national honours and his sinecure.
Is there any other way that this story could have ended?
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and natural resource manager.
Samfie politics and bounce back
Published: Friday | May 21, 2010
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is comforted by the idea that Prime Minister Bruce Golding did not lie when he said that the Jamaican government did not hire Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP) since it was the "party" that hired the firm.
Orrett B. Golding may be morally satisfied with the idea that it was Bruce Golding the JLP leader that "sanctioned" the hiring of MPP to lobby the United States (US) government, not Bruce Golding, the prime minister, and that he is successfully wearing these two hats on his one head. But to most Jamaicans this sounds like ginnalship. Anancy may be our favourite national hero, but nobody likes to be taken in by a ginnal.
I can see that the JLP party hacks cannot understand why so many do not appreciate the fine distinctions in the prime minister's position. After all, technically the prime minister did not lie. No! He just pulled a fast one.
This, I believe, is why so many individuals and organisations last week called for the prime minister to resign. You think that you are dealing with someone who talks straight, and then you discover that words are being used to obfuscate rather than convey truth. You feel personally violated!
Now that we know who we are dealing with, we have to watch and weigh every word. Did MPP meet with members of the government? Well, no; it was not a formal meeting; it was a "social encounter" at a bar. That is not a lie, but the truth. There was no "meeting".
We are told that Dudus was not the source of the money that hired MPP.
Well then, was it one of the members of the Incomparable Enterprise Group? Not Dudus, but a company he owns? It would not surprise me, and the JLP would have told the truth.
The JLP press conference from Ocho Rios on the weekend was a big disappointment. The senior party officials who spoke to the press were clear: the prime minister did nothing wrong, and there will be no resignation and no apology. Should the prime minister resign, he will be replaced with someone from his party who believes that Bruce Golding did nothing wrong.
One samfie JLP politician will replace another. Will we be better off?
This kind of fancy footwork with the truth is characteristic of the sort of ginnal politics we have been dished out in Jamaica. Trafigura gives Colin Campbell our Candidate (CCOC) a donation of thirty-odd million US dollars; cheques are drawn on the CCOC account to the People's National Party (PNP).
Then the scandal breaks, and the PNP says they gave back the money. But to whom?
My sources tell me that the PNP returned the money to CCOC; they never got any money from Trafigura, so they can't return any money to Trafigura. The PNP has told the truth; they returned the money! What CCOC did with the money after the PNP returned it to them, well, that is another matter!
No moral authority
When is the PNP going to come clean about Trafigura? What was that deal really about? It certainly was not about lifting oil from Nigeria! Was it about bauxite? Solid waste disposal? The PNP will have no moral authority and no credibility until they come clean on this one.
And so replacing the JLP with the PNP means that one set of samfie
politicians will replace another. Will we be better off?
What we need is an end to samfie politics, and that is what the apologetic Mr Golding promised the nation on Monday. But can he be believed? Was that promise another samfie tactic? Mr Golding for months has been in possession of evidence (legally obtained) incriminating a Jamaican drug dealer and gunrunner and has not done anything about it. It stretches credibility.
The opportunistic PNP have now said that they are committed to breaking the connection between politics and criminality. That is just as incredible a claim, considering that they have three times as many garrison constituencies as the JLP, and have deepened their garrisons over their recent tenure. What concretely are they going to do? I think we will have a long wait to find out!
In the meantime, the garrison story come up to bump! The mother of all garrisons has barricaded itself, and will not easily give up its don. The father of all garrisons is secure with his national honours and his sinecure.
Is there any other way that this story could have ended?
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and natural resource manager.
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