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Is the JLP prepared for a damaging Dudus/Manatt Report?
WIGNALL’S WORLD
Mark Wignall
Sunday, June 12, 2011
MORALLY I believe that the prime minister did the correct thing in arranging the enquiry into matters surrounding the extradition of Dudus, but politically it was a most foolish move.
It is accepted by even the most mentally deficient person that one does not order one's own execution, and in large measure that is what I believed the prime minister did in convening the Commission of Enquiry. If we assume that there were some stunning truths that were hidden prior to the enquiry — truths that would have validated the actions of the prime minister and his chief lieutenants in their handling of the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke last year — then I certainly missed those revelations.
For those Jamaicans from all walks of life who sat in front of their TV monitors and witnessed the sharp questionings and the inability or unwillingness of key persons to answer candidly, there would have been a few reactions swirling around in their minds that would stand out.
For the robotic JLP diehards, the prime minister did nothing wrong and the PNP lawyers who questioned him, Security Minister Dwight Nelson, and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne — key players in the Dudus episode — are all evil and were strictly playing raw politics.
For the robotic PNP diehards, anything which came out of the mouths of those representing the JLP during the enquiry was a tissue of lies. In fact, to PNP diehards, there is no such concept as a good JLP person.
For the independent thinker, embarrassment would have been felt especially as many people with interest in the international community would have been watching, listening and would have seen the skid marks on our imperfectly washed linen hanging out for all to see.
Well, the circus has left town and the clowns have dispersed and the report has been prepared and will be tabled in Parliament this week. Although there are some who believe that the chairman of the enquiry was far from his best in his handling of the proceedings and that he is a friend of the JLP, it is my belief that those matters will not factor in the report.
If we are true to ourselves, what came out in the wash during the extradition delays last year was pretty much what was actually confirmed in the enquiry. So we spent many millions of dollars to confirm what we already knew.
NELSON (left) and LIGHTBOURNE… came under immense pressure during the Dudus/Manatt Commission of Enquiry
CRAWFORD… his testimony at the Finsac enquiry was the most shocking and troubling
SIMPSON MILLER… her shadow Cabinet shows poor political thinking
DAVIES… demoted to shadow the transport and works ministry
Who will resign?
An obviously wounded JLP administration would be well-advised to up the ante on its economic success. Much of what is being touted as positives are to some extent true. Commerce has picked up, and if the statistics are anything to go by, a few jobs have returned.
The downside is that, in general, the same mass of unemployed, idle youngsters having nothing to do but smoke ganja and make babies that existed four years ago are still there -- rolling their spliffs and rutting in a back room for small change.
Key members of the Cabinet who came under immense pressure during the enquiry, such as Nelson and Lightbourne, are, to me, expendable based on their perceived effectiveness, or, the very lack of it. Minister Nelson, I am sure, would like to climb to some mountaintop and bellow that in relation to murders last year, there have been significant and impressive decreases and he ought to be congratulated for leading in this mission.
He would only be half right there. First, were murders on the increase, he would be under severe pressure at this time, so, if we flip the coin, he should be given kudos for the murder decreases. The question is, what did the minister actively do to achieve this? As for me, I am still waiting on the answer.
The answer may lie in the fact that we were pressured by the Americans to give up Dudus, at the time, one of the most, if not the most powerful man in Jamaica. The answer may also lie in the fact that it was active operational work by the security forces on the ground in Tivoli Gardens that scared the pants off organised and disorganised criminality throughout the island which resulted in the decreases.
Were we left to our own devices, Dudus would still be here, ministers Nelson and Lightbourne would not have had to face any difficult questions which they couldn't recall and the murders would still be right up there where they had been for much too long.
Shedding Nelson and Lightbourne would, of course, provide fodder for the jaded Opposition PNP, but bearing in mind that neither of them are parliamentary representatives, it would not in any way affect the JLP's seat count going into the next elections.
For the JLP's sake, it should introduce some new blood into its vitals and show up the utter foolishness of the PNP's shadow Cabinet.
AJ Nicholson has been retained in the PNP's shadow Cabinet. A decent and affable man, AJ should not have been put in the position to allow others to claim that the PNP's shadow Cabinet is a rest home. Roger Clarke is everybody's friend, but for Simpson Miller to retain him to shadow the meteoric Agriculture Minister Chris Tufton is palpably unwise and indicative of poor political thinking.
I would not expect the prime minister to resign, but I suspect he will have to give up someone to justify the cost, the time and, who knows, maybe his own missteps in the whole debacle.
But, what if the report fully vindicates Golding and his team? Nah, that's just not on the books.
Don Crawford's painful journey
HAVING now heard from former head of the Century group, Don Crawford, my main disappointment is that not many people have immersed themselves in the Finsac enquiry as those who did so with the Manatt probe.
The depositors in the entities which crumbled during the 1990s were saved by Finsac and I totally agree with former Prime Minister P J Patterson that there would have been rioting had it not been done. The other side is, of course, the former bosses of these entities like Crawford and Chen Young, men who dared to think and act big and stepped up boldly, and hundreds of others who were successful small businessmen. They have all been vanquished by the policies of old socialists — men who where square thinkers and who tried to operate a round-holed system.
One reader wrote, "I was stuck to the Internet today watching and listening to the testimony of Don Crawford. I have listened to and viewed a few of the earlier testimonies, but Don's testimony was the most shocking and troubling I have heard. The whole world was waiting for his testimony and now the shocking revelations have left many very troubled and in a state of shock.
"Unlike the testimony of the other major victim — Paul Chen Young, who has documented and published his side — we are hearing from Don further and better particulars of what really happened. Don was at his best and his shocking and troubling revelations cannot and should not be taken lightly. I was always convinced that Don's destruction by the previous administration was a political takedown by an administration that believed that it owned Jamaica.
"For those who were always listening to those who were demonising Don, Paul Chen Young and the other indigenous entrepreneurs, must now ask themselves the big question, why did Portia find it necessary to demote Omar Davies to shadow the transport and works ministry? Why, Why?? Why did she find it necessary to demote the so-called world-class minister of finance despite her predecessor P J Patterson's strong defence of Finsac, which was implemented by the world-class finance minister, Omar Davies? The question remains, why, why, Portia?
"Remember that famous talk: 'We have always believed that it is in the best interest of this country for this party to form the administration, so anything that will allow us to remain in power we will do'.
"The failure by the spineless Golding administration to have expeditiously corrected the wrongs heaped upon on the bankers and other Jamaican black-skinned investors by the PNP has cost his administration and, by extension, the country dearly. It leaves many with the impression that the Golding administration is afraid to flex its muscles to eliminate Finsac -- that albatross around the neck of the nation.
"The administration's failure to eliminate Finsac has sent the wrong impression to local and international potential investors who would love to invest in Jamaica. Until this administration gets the gall to implement measures that will assure us that a Finsac two will never transpire it will be difficult to convince one to risk investing in Jamaica, for fear that Finsac number two will rear its ugly head again. Only a damn madman would invest in a climate of this nature, one that was bequeathed to the JLP and has not been eliminated."
The JLP Administration has made itself an easy target
EVERYONE jumped on it without one shred of investigative work — that J$800 million road in Christiana.
One member of the JLP administration told me that the new road had been planned from the 1970s but now that it is being built, all the critics are up in arms against it. Will anything ever get done in this country?
What is known is that, historically, corruption has always seeped into road works and government housing. It has always been taken as par for the course that someone or a select few will always 'eat a food' off these projects, so, the knee-jerk response to criticise is understandable. Plus, coming out of the Dudus/Manatt charade last year, there are very few who are willing to trust any word coming out of the administration.
As I understand it, the objective in building the one-kilometre road is to reduce congestion in the town of Christiana (one of the fastest-growing towns in Jamaica) along Main Street and adjoining local roadways while improving travel times along the Manchester to Trelawny main roads.
One of the expected benefits from its construction is an increase in commercial activity within the town. But, until the press tour, I will wait to say more on it.
Prior to us gaining independence, when Norman Manley decided to reclaim swamp lands in a sleepy little backwoods town, there were many who cussed him out and called him mad. Well, he went ahead anyway and the name of the town today and for a long time, is Negril, the place where tourists flock.
I was a teenager working in the claims department at a shipping company, United Fruit Company, in the late 1960s when it came to us that the then minister of development and welfare, Eddie Seaga, was 'dumping up' sections along Foreshore Road (later, Marcus Garvey Drive) to make a new shipping complex called Newport West.
Change is difficult, and not many relished the idea of moving from Harbour Street and the old finger piers to the now modern container terminal at Port Bustamante in Newport West.
Sometimes leaders need to lock their ears to all the chatter and just do the right thing. The problem is, we have always been bitten by corruption and now, even when it doesn't exist, we invent it to justify our own suspicions.
Looking forward to that Christiana tour.
observemark@gmail.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1P6mKfN7r
WIGNALL’S WORLD
Mark Wignall
Sunday, June 12, 2011
MORALLY I believe that the prime minister did the correct thing in arranging the enquiry into matters surrounding the extradition of Dudus, but politically it was a most foolish move.
It is accepted by even the most mentally deficient person that one does not order one's own execution, and in large measure that is what I believed the prime minister did in convening the Commission of Enquiry. If we assume that there were some stunning truths that were hidden prior to the enquiry — truths that would have validated the actions of the prime minister and his chief lieutenants in their handling of the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke last year — then I certainly missed those revelations.
For those Jamaicans from all walks of life who sat in front of their TV monitors and witnessed the sharp questionings and the inability or unwillingness of key persons to answer candidly, there would have been a few reactions swirling around in their minds that would stand out.
For the robotic JLP diehards, the prime minister did nothing wrong and the PNP lawyers who questioned him, Security Minister Dwight Nelson, and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne — key players in the Dudus episode — are all evil and were strictly playing raw politics.
For the robotic PNP diehards, anything which came out of the mouths of those representing the JLP during the enquiry was a tissue of lies. In fact, to PNP diehards, there is no such concept as a good JLP person.
For the independent thinker, embarrassment would have been felt especially as many people with interest in the international community would have been watching, listening and would have seen the skid marks on our imperfectly washed linen hanging out for all to see.
Well, the circus has left town and the clowns have dispersed and the report has been prepared and will be tabled in Parliament this week. Although there are some who believe that the chairman of the enquiry was far from his best in his handling of the proceedings and that he is a friend of the JLP, it is my belief that those matters will not factor in the report.
If we are true to ourselves, what came out in the wash during the extradition delays last year was pretty much what was actually confirmed in the enquiry. So we spent many millions of dollars to confirm what we already knew.
NELSON (left) and LIGHTBOURNE… came under immense pressure during the Dudus/Manatt Commission of Enquiry
CRAWFORD… his testimony at the Finsac enquiry was the most shocking and troubling
SIMPSON MILLER… her shadow Cabinet shows poor political thinking
DAVIES… demoted to shadow the transport and works ministry
Who will resign?
An obviously wounded JLP administration would be well-advised to up the ante on its economic success. Much of what is being touted as positives are to some extent true. Commerce has picked up, and if the statistics are anything to go by, a few jobs have returned.
The downside is that, in general, the same mass of unemployed, idle youngsters having nothing to do but smoke ganja and make babies that existed four years ago are still there -- rolling their spliffs and rutting in a back room for small change.
Key members of the Cabinet who came under immense pressure during the enquiry, such as Nelson and Lightbourne, are, to me, expendable based on their perceived effectiveness, or, the very lack of it. Minister Nelson, I am sure, would like to climb to some mountaintop and bellow that in relation to murders last year, there have been significant and impressive decreases and he ought to be congratulated for leading in this mission.
He would only be half right there. First, were murders on the increase, he would be under severe pressure at this time, so, if we flip the coin, he should be given kudos for the murder decreases. The question is, what did the minister actively do to achieve this? As for me, I am still waiting on the answer.
The answer may lie in the fact that we were pressured by the Americans to give up Dudus, at the time, one of the most, if not the most powerful man in Jamaica. The answer may also lie in the fact that it was active operational work by the security forces on the ground in Tivoli Gardens that scared the pants off organised and disorganised criminality throughout the island which resulted in the decreases.
Were we left to our own devices, Dudus would still be here, ministers Nelson and Lightbourne would not have had to face any difficult questions which they couldn't recall and the murders would still be right up there where they had been for much too long.
Shedding Nelson and Lightbourne would, of course, provide fodder for the jaded Opposition PNP, but bearing in mind that neither of them are parliamentary representatives, it would not in any way affect the JLP's seat count going into the next elections.
For the JLP's sake, it should introduce some new blood into its vitals and show up the utter foolishness of the PNP's shadow Cabinet.
AJ Nicholson has been retained in the PNP's shadow Cabinet. A decent and affable man, AJ should not have been put in the position to allow others to claim that the PNP's shadow Cabinet is a rest home. Roger Clarke is everybody's friend, but for Simpson Miller to retain him to shadow the meteoric Agriculture Minister Chris Tufton is palpably unwise and indicative of poor political thinking.
I would not expect the prime minister to resign, but I suspect he will have to give up someone to justify the cost, the time and, who knows, maybe his own missteps in the whole debacle.
But, what if the report fully vindicates Golding and his team? Nah, that's just not on the books.
Don Crawford's painful journey
HAVING now heard from former head of the Century group, Don Crawford, my main disappointment is that not many people have immersed themselves in the Finsac enquiry as those who did so with the Manatt probe.
The depositors in the entities which crumbled during the 1990s were saved by Finsac and I totally agree with former Prime Minister P J Patterson that there would have been rioting had it not been done. The other side is, of course, the former bosses of these entities like Crawford and Chen Young, men who dared to think and act big and stepped up boldly, and hundreds of others who were successful small businessmen. They have all been vanquished by the policies of old socialists — men who where square thinkers and who tried to operate a round-holed system.
One reader wrote, "I was stuck to the Internet today watching and listening to the testimony of Don Crawford. I have listened to and viewed a few of the earlier testimonies, but Don's testimony was the most shocking and troubling I have heard. The whole world was waiting for his testimony and now the shocking revelations have left many very troubled and in a state of shock.
"Unlike the testimony of the other major victim — Paul Chen Young, who has documented and published his side — we are hearing from Don further and better particulars of what really happened. Don was at his best and his shocking and troubling revelations cannot and should not be taken lightly. I was always convinced that Don's destruction by the previous administration was a political takedown by an administration that believed that it owned Jamaica.
"For those who were always listening to those who were demonising Don, Paul Chen Young and the other indigenous entrepreneurs, must now ask themselves the big question, why did Portia find it necessary to demote Omar Davies to shadow the transport and works ministry? Why, Why?? Why did she find it necessary to demote the so-called world-class minister of finance despite her predecessor P J Patterson's strong defence of Finsac, which was implemented by the world-class finance minister, Omar Davies? The question remains, why, why, Portia?
"Remember that famous talk: 'We have always believed that it is in the best interest of this country for this party to form the administration, so anything that will allow us to remain in power we will do'.
"The failure by the spineless Golding administration to have expeditiously corrected the wrongs heaped upon on the bankers and other Jamaican black-skinned investors by the PNP has cost his administration and, by extension, the country dearly. It leaves many with the impression that the Golding administration is afraid to flex its muscles to eliminate Finsac -- that albatross around the neck of the nation.
"The administration's failure to eliminate Finsac has sent the wrong impression to local and international potential investors who would love to invest in Jamaica. Until this administration gets the gall to implement measures that will assure us that a Finsac two will never transpire it will be difficult to convince one to risk investing in Jamaica, for fear that Finsac number two will rear its ugly head again. Only a damn madman would invest in a climate of this nature, one that was bequeathed to the JLP and has not been eliminated."
The JLP Administration has made itself an easy target
EVERYONE jumped on it without one shred of investigative work — that J$800 million road in Christiana.
One member of the JLP administration told me that the new road had been planned from the 1970s but now that it is being built, all the critics are up in arms against it. Will anything ever get done in this country?
What is known is that, historically, corruption has always seeped into road works and government housing. It has always been taken as par for the course that someone or a select few will always 'eat a food' off these projects, so, the knee-jerk response to criticise is understandable. Plus, coming out of the Dudus/Manatt charade last year, there are very few who are willing to trust any word coming out of the administration.
As I understand it, the objective in building the one-kilometre road is to reduce congestion in the town of Christiana (one of the fastest-growing towns in Jamaica) along Main Street and adjoining local roadways while improving travel times along the Manchester to Trelawny main roads.
One of the expected benefits from its construction is an increase in commercial activity within the town. But, until the press tour, I will wait to say more on it.
Prior to us gaining independence, when Norman Manley decided to reclaim swamp lands in a sleepy little backwoods town, there were many who cussed him out and called him mad. Well, he went ahead anyway and the name of the town today and for a long time, is Negril, the place where tourists flock.
I was a teenager working in the claims department at a shipping company, United Fruit Company, in the late 1960s when it came to us that the then minister of development and welfare, Eddie Seaga, was 'dumping up' sections along Foreshore Road (later, Marcus Garvey Drive) to make a new shipping complex called Newport West.
Change is difficult, and not many relished the idea of moving from Harbour Street and the old finger piers to the now modern container terminal at Port Bustamante in Newport West.
Sometimes leaders need to lock their ears to all the chatter and just do the right thing. The problem is, we have always been bitten by corruption and now, even when it doesn't exist, we invent it to justify our own suspicions.
Looking forward to that Christiana tour.
observemark@gmail.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1P6mKfN7r
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