Tweet
Karl Samuda's convenient burst of conscience
Mark Wignall
Thursday, July 01, 2010
FULL minister in the JLP administration, the only politician to have crossed the fence and win on both tickets, Karl Samuda is at once the best and worst of our politics.
As an officer of long standing in his party, "politics" is in his blood, and if he cannot be wrongfully accused of dragging our politics into the 21st century, we are forced to admit that this veteran of our tribal past and present knows how to apply party politics when it matters - on election day.
SAMUDA... has pretty much confirmed for us how it was
1/1 
Many of the young Turks in the JLP had to kneel at his feet while they tried to steer themselves through the maze of working back through centres of influence (dons), party worker, PDs and actually getting out that vote on election day. Much of what they know now, they learnt it from Karl Samuda.
"Samuda rejects dons", said an Observer article by Luke Douglas yesterday. The first thing which came to my mind when I saw the title of the article was that there has been increasing pressure from the people to rid ourselves of the old order in politics, and Karl Samuda, as one of the veterans, represents that old order.
Second, with the demise of Dudus, politics by the don has been put on the defensive for now, so it too has been under pressure. To me, one does not even have to step into the 10th grade to know that Karl is rolling with the punches of the political moment. Said Samuda last Tuesday, "I have advised everyone at the area leader level. Those elements exist and they have existed (in my constituency). I have had discussions and I have indicated in the strongest way I can that any continuation of activity that results in breaking the law, intimidation, extortion, anything of that kind has no place."
He went even further, "Gone are the days when persons engaged in gangsterism and donmanship can seek to find political affiliation with the party we represent as the government. There is no safe haven in the Jamaica Labour Party for persons engaged in crime and violence and who lead gangs. Those days are over, it is a redundant notion that through force you can influence people to vote one way or the other."
Now all of that is as close as one can ever get to a confession. In essence, the minister was telling us loud and clear that the JLP of yesteryear was involved in the politics of "gangsterism and donmanship".
We probably needed nothing further since the demise of the structure of Tivoli and Dudus, but Samuda has pretty much confirmed for us how it was. Does this mean, Mr Samuda, that Cleveland Downer aka Cassie, a "centre of influence" from Common in your constituency will no longer have any sort of a relationship with you after he is released from detention?
No matter the motivational factors, I congratulate Minister Samuda!
Don't be held hostage, Minister Tufton
In recent months I have written a number of articles which have questioned the scenarios surrounding the continued holding of fishing licences by DYC Fishing, a company operated by a Mr Frank Cox in the face of repeated breaching of fishing laws in the US jurisdiction.
In two breaches before the US Courts, the end results have been convictions and hefty fines.
On April 1, 2010, the MV Abbey, a vessel operated by DYC, was detained in Portland for another alleged breach. In recent days, the vessel has been officially seized and the cargo confiscated. As I understand it, investigations in that matter are at an advanced stage and it is more than likely that files will soon be dispatched to the relevant authorities.
I have not determined exactly at which stage Ronald Giddu, a Kenyan (I had erroneously made him into a Nigerian in a previous column) morphed into Frank Cox, a Jamaican, but what is known is that Mrs Deborah James-Cox, managing director of DYC Fishing in Yallahs, St Thomas, and late wife of Cox, was given a licence to fish exclusively for conch in 1992. In a letter issued to her on February 24, 1992, it states, "I am happy to inform you that the Minister of State, the Honourable Ruddy Lawson, has given his approval for you to be issued with a fishing permit to fish exclusively for conch on the Pedro Bank."
The question is, how could a man, Frank Cox, who did not even know what conch was in 1992, be the holder of permits which allow him to control about 33 1/3 per cent of all of the fishing quotas in the country?
Last week when I expressed in an email some concerns to Minister Christopher Tufton, he responded by teleconference which included his PS and other relevant staff. The minister pointed out that the main bugbear has been legislation. "There is just so much that the ministry can do. We have been trying to launch new legislation so that the industry can be better regulated. In 2000, Cox literally shut down the industry and the GOJ had to settle with him out of court. The last administration spent 10 years trying to launch new regulations and our administration has been trying now for three years and we haven't advanced much further."
The minister also said that advice given to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries by the attorney general is that there is little that can be done about any new regulations until new legislation is passed in Parliament.
Is there something else that we do not know? How can one man/company who has been in breach of the fishing regulations and who has been recently accused of other breaches continue to boast of controlling one-third of the fishing quota in Jamaica? Did that out-of-court settlement constitute some form of secret agreement that gives this dubious foreigner more rights to Jamaica's marine resources than even locals who were in the business from Paul Bogle was a boy?
Is the minister aware of allegations of special relationships between senior members of his ministry and others, and if so, could this be why no meaningful action, legislative or otherwise, has been taken to remedy this vile situation?
Am I to understand that another 13 years will pass before any changes can be made? Do we just accept the position on the difficulties of passing new legislation while allowing DYC's two fishing quotas the licence to hold the ministry hostage?
Minister Tufton, you are the best performer in the JLP Cabinet, but this state of affairs is plainly not good enough.
observemark@gmail.com
Mark Wignall
Thursday, July 01, 2010
FULL minister in the JLP administration, the only politician to have crossed the fence and win on both tickets, Karl Samuda is at once the best and worst of our politics.
As an officer of long standing in his party, "politics" is in his blood, and if he cannot be wrongfully accused of dragging our politics into the 21st century, we are forced to admit that this veteran of our tribal past and present knows how to apply party politics when it matters - on election day.
SAMUDA... has pretty much confirmed for us how it was 1/1 Many of the young Turks in the JLP had to kneel at his feet while they tried to steer themselves through the maze of working back through centres of influence (dons), party worker, PDs and actually getting out that vote on election day. Much of what they know now, they learnt it from Karl Samuda.
"Samuda rejects dons", said an Observer article by Luke Douglas yesterday. The first thing which came to my mind when I saw the title of the article was that there has been increasing pressure from the people to rid ourselves of the old order in politics, and Karl Samuda, as one of the veterans, represents that old order.
Second, with the demise of Dudus, politics by the don has been put on the defensive for now, so it too has been under pressure. To me, one does not even have to step into the 10th grade to know that Karl is rolling with the punches of the political moment. Said Samuda last Tuesday, "I have advised everyone at the area leader level. Those elements exist and they have existed (in my constituency). I have had discussions and I have indicated in the strongest way I can that any continuation of activity that results in breaking the law, intimidation, extortion, anything of that kind has no place."
He went even further, "Gone are the days when persons engaged in gangsterism and donmanship can seek to find political affiliation with the party we represent as the government. There is no safe haven in the Jamaica Labour Party for persons engaged in crime and violence and who lead gangs. Those days are over, it is a redundant notion that through force you can influence people to vote one way or the other."
Now all of that is as close as one can ever get to a confession. In essence, the minister was telling us loud and clear that the JLP of yesteryear was involved in the politics of "gangsterism and donmanship".
We probably needed nothing further since the demise of the structure of Tivoli and Dudus, but Samuda has pretty much confirmed for us how it was. Does this mean, Mr Samuda, that Cleveland Downer aka Cassie, a "centre of influence" from Common in your constituency will no longer have any sort of a relationship with you after he is released from detention?
No matter the motivational factors, I congratulate Minister Samuda!
Don't be held hostage, Minister Tufton
In recent months I have written a number of articles which have questioned the scenarios surrounding the continued holding of fishing licences by DYC Fishing, a company operated by a Mr Frank Cox in the face of repeated breaching of fishing laws in the US jurisdiction.
In two breaches before the US Courts, the end results have been convictions and hefty fines.
On April 1, 2010, the MV Abbey, a vessel operated by DYC, was detained in Portland for another alleged breach. In recent days, the vessel has been officially seized and the cargo confiscated. As I understand it, investigations in that matter are at an advanced stage and it is more than likely that files will soon be dispatched to the relevant authorities.
I have not determined exactly at which stage Ronald Giddu, a Kenyan (I had erroneously made him into a Nigerian in a previous column) morphed into Frank Cox, a Jamaican, but what is known is that Mrs Deborah James-Cox, managing director of DYC Fishing in Yallahs, St Thomas, and late wife of Cox, was given a licence to fish exclusively for conch in 1992. In a letter issued to her on February 24, 1992, it states, "I am happy to inform you that the Minister of State, the Honourable Ruddy Lawson, has given his approval for you to be issued with a fishing permit to fish exclusively for conch on the Pedro Bank."
The question is, how could a man, Frank Cox, who did not even know what conch was in 1992, be the holder of permits which allow him to control about 33 1/3 per cent of all of the fishing quotas in the country?
Last week when I expressed in an email some concerns to Minister Christopher Tufton, he responded by teleconference which included his PS and other relevant staff. The minister pointed out that the main bugbear has been legislation. "There is just so much that the ministry can do. We have been trying to launch new legislation so that the industry can be better regulated. In 2000, Cox literally shut down the industry and the GOJ had to settle with him out of court. The last administration spent 10 years trying to launch new regulations and our administration has been trying now for three years and we haven't advanced much further."
The minister also said that advice given to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries by the attorney general is that there is little that can be done about any new regulations until new legislation is passed in Parliament.
Is there something else that we do not know? How can one man/company who has been in breach of the fishing regulations and who has been recently accused of other breaches continue to boast of controlling one-third of the fishing quota in Jamaica? Did that out-of-court settlement constitute some form of secret agreement that gives this dubious foreigner more rights to Jamaica's marine resources than even locals who were in the business from Paul Bogle was a boy?
Is the minister aware of allegations of special relationships between senior members of his ministry and others, and if so, could this be why no meaningful action, legislative or otherwise, has been taken to remedy this vile situation?
Am I to understand that another 13 years will pass before any changes can be made? Do we just accept the position on the difficulties of passing new legislation while allowing DYC's two fishing quotas the licence to hold the ministry hostage?
Minister Tufton, you are the best performer in the JLP Cabinet, but this state of affairs is plainly not good enough.
observemark@gmail.com
Comment