Tweet
EDITORIAL - The More Mr Golding Speaks ...
EDITORIAL - The More Mr Golding Speaks ...
Published: Thursday | September 16, 20104 Comments and 0 Reactions
Unfortunately for Prime Minister Bruce Golding, the more he talks about the Christopher Coke-Manatt affair, the more questions he raises and the greater the damage, it seems, to his credibility.
The prime minister is now in a dispute with Mr Harold Brady over whether the latter is still a member of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which, if Mr Golding wins, it's likely to be on a technicality. The greater likelihood, it seems, is that Mr Brady, though he has continued to operate on behalf of the JLP, has not paid his party dues over the last three years. It is a possibility, therefore, that, technically, his membership lapsed.
The impression left by Mr Golding, though, was of something far more direct and trenchant when he declared Mr Brady to be "no longer a member of the JLP", who had also been asked "to resign from all government boards".
The implication, we suggest, was that Mr Brady was either forced to resign or expelled from the JLP as punishment for having gone beyond the scope of his party leader's directives when he hired the United States (US) lobbyists, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, for what has been interpreted as an effort to thwart America's bid to extradite the notorious Mr Coke, an alleged cocaine and firearms smuggler.
Mr Brady, however, insists that he is still a member of the JLP and says he was never asked to leave the boards of government agencies. Having, of his own accord, resigned from several, he was up to two months ago being invited to join another. Whatever the truth, there are in this latest round of the Coke-Manatt saga echoes of the prime minister's earlier obfuscating omissions - such as when he failed to supply all the facts on Jamaica's relationship with Manatt when confronted on the matter in Parliament by Peter Phillips.
If this tussle between the PM and Mr Brady - from which Mr Golding can gain no value - is unseemly, the prime minister's political judgement appears to be worse.
Accept that Mr Brady has been booted from the party for overplaying his hand in an initiative initially sanctioned by Mr Golding, ostensibly in his role as leader of the JLP. By the prime minister's reckoning, Mr Brady left Manatt with the impression that it was working for the Jamaican government, rather than only for the JLP.
But Mr Golding keeps his justice minister and attorney general, Ms Dorothy Lightbourne, as well as the solicitor general, Mr Douglas Leys.
Ignorant of the relationship
Yet, it stretches the credulity of reasonable people that neither of these highly intelligent and competent lawyers assumed that the deep engagement by the Office of the Solicitor General of Manatt did not imply a relationship between the US firm and the Jamaican government. Or, that one of them was totally ignorant of the relationship.
Mr Leys shared information with Mr Brady and was advised by Manatt on his strategy for dealing with the Americans on the Coke extradition. The American lobbyists even drafted statements that were to have been from the Jamaican government, not the JLP, on the extradition impasse.
It is hard, in the circumstances, to believe that Mr Leys never briefed his boss, Ms Lightbourne, on this critical and sensitive matter that so consumed Jamaica's relationship with a key partner.
Maybe a cow can scale the moon.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
Published: Thursday | September 16, 20104 Comments and 0 Reactions
Unfortunately for Prime Minister Bruce Golding, the more he talks about the Christopher Coke-Manatt affair, the more questions he raises and the greater the damage, it seems, to his credibility.
The prime minister is now in a dispute with Mr Harold Brady over whether the latter is still a member of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which, if Mr Golding wins, it's likely to be on a technicality. The greater likelihood, it seems, is that Mr Brady, though he has continued to operate on behalf of the JLP, has not paid his party dues over the last three years. It is a possibility, therefore, that, technically, his membership lapsed.
The impression left by Mr Golding, though, was of something far more direct and trenchant when he declared Mr Brady to be "no longer a member of the JLP", who had also been asked "to resign from all government boards".
The implication, we suggest, was that Mr Brady was either forced to resign or expelled from the JLP as punishment for having gone beyond the scope of his party leader's directives when he hired the United States (US) lobbyists, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, for what has been interpreted as an effort to thwart America's bid to extradite the notorious Mr Coke, an alleged cocaine and firearms smuggler.
Mr Brady, however, insists that he is still a member of the JLP and says he was never asked to leave the boards of government agencies. Having, of his own accord, resigned from several, he was up to two months ago being invited to join another. Whatever the truth, there are in this latest round of the Coke-Manatt saga echoes of the prime minister's earlier obfuscating omissions - such as when he failed to supply all the facts on Jamaica's relationship with Manatt when confronted on the matter in Parliament by Peter Phillips.
If this tussle between the PM and Mr Brady - from which Mr Golding can gain no value - is unseemly, the prime minister's political judgement appears to be worse.
Accept that Mr Brady has been booted from the party for overplaying his hand in an initiative initially sanctioned by Mr Golding, ostensibly in his role as leader of the JLP. By the prime minister's reckoning, Mr Brady left Manatt with the impression that it was working for the Jamaican government, rather than only for the JLP.
But Mr Golding keeps his justice minister and attorney general, Ms Dorothy Lightbourne, as well as the solicitor general, Mr Douglas Leys.
Ignorant of the relationship
Yet, it stretches the credulity of reasonable people that neither of these highly intelligent and competent lawyers assumed that the deep engagement by the Office of the Solicitor General of Manatt did not imply a relationship between the US firm and the Jamaican government. Or, that one of them was totally ignorant of the relationship.
Mr Leys shared information with Mr Brady and was advised by Manatt on his strategy for dealing with the Americans on the Coke extradition. The American lobbyists even drafted statements that were to have been from the Jamaican government, not the JLP, on the extradition impasse.
It is hard, in the circumstances, to believe that Mr Leys never briefed his boss, Ms Lightbourne, on this critical and sensitive matter that so consumed Jamaica's relationship with a key partner.
Maybe a cow can scale the moon.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
Comment