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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Is Madam PM stalling on Mr Ennis?</SPAN>
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>It strikes us as more than a little odd that the prime minister has found it necessary to appoint a team to discuss Mr Errol Ennis' statement on Olint Corporation and the (FSC).
Unless, of course, there is more than meets the eye and Mr Ennis is venting more than his conscience.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Mr Ennis is a junior minister in Roger Clarke's agriculture ministry. So what would it take to have Mr Clarke, or the prime minister herself, for that matter, call him in to discuss his statement as published in the Business Observer last week Wednesday?
A cursory reading of the decision suggests to us that the PM is stalling and hoping for the matter to die a natural death, doesn't consider the matter important enough, or is getting resistance from Mr Ennis to discuss the statement.<P class=StoryText align=justify>For sure, Mr Ennis' very strident criticism of the state-run Financial Services Commission gives serious cause for concern. In a letter to the Observer, the minister of state in the agriculture ministry described a raid by the Financial Investigations Division - the financial policing arm of the Ministry of Finance and the FSC - on the offices of foreign exchange trader and investment club, Olint, as "Gestapo-like, a vulgar abuse of state power and highly reflective of the actions of a totalitarian state".<P class=StoryText align=justify>These are serious words indeed. But Mr Ennis, who is a former junior minister of finance, went further to say that the raid was designed to destroy the foreign exchange trading and investment club which, he suggested, should, instead, be encouraged, "as a possible boon to the Jamaican economy".<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The invasion of Olint's offices was, therefore, nothing more than the action of a bunch of economic Luddites, scared and uncertain of a bright new world," Mr Ennis charged.
We do not know if it was deliberate or just mere coincidence, but Mr Ennis's letter came a few days after the finance minister, Dr Omar Davies, had warned people who put money in alternative investment schemes, such as Olint, that they were doing so without the protection of the state.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is clear that Mr Ennis is on a collision course with his own Government. Indeed, the information minister, Mr Donald Buchanan, reiterated that "the Cabinet disassociates itself from Minister Ennis' pronouncements and we once again reaffirm our confidence in the FSC".<P class=StoryText align=justify>However, the question is, how much latitude is allowed to ministers to speak their conscience? As a country, we are still not yet very comfortable with government ministers or members of parliament adopting positions contrary to the administration or political party of which they are a part.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Last week, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MP Clive Mullings broke ranks with his Opposition colleagues who supported the Proceeds of Crime Bill in the House, saying he was depending on the Senate to rescue the bill by not passing it. The rhetoric was less strident than Mr Ennis', but it was encouraging to see that the JLP appears to be taking this one in stride.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Of course, it could be that Mr Ennis is trying to distance himself from the Portia Simpson Miller administration, and in this event, he should state so unequivocally.
In any event, we still don't see the need for a team to meet to discuss the matter.<P class=StoryText align=justify>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>It strikes us as more than a little odd that the prime minister has found it necessary to appoint a team to discuss Mr Errol Ennis' statement on Olint Corporation and the (FSC).
Unless, of course, there is more than meets the eye and Mr Ennis is venting more than his conscience.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Mr Ennis is a junior minister in Roger Clarke's agriculture ministry. So what would it take to have Mr Clarke, or the prime minister herself, for that matter, call him in to discuss his statement as published in the Business Observer last week Wednesday?
A cursory reading of the decision suggests to us that the PM is stalling and hoping for the matter to die a natural death, doesn't consider the matter important enough, or is getting resistance from Mr Ennis to discuss the statement.<P class=StoryText align=justify>For sure, Mr Ennis' very strident criticism of the state-run Financial Services Commission gives serious cause for concern. In a letter to the Observer, the minister of state in the agriculture ministry described a raid by the Financial Investigations Division - the financial policing arm of the Ministry of Finance and the FSC - on the offices of foreign exchange trader and investment club, Olint, as "Gestapo-like, a vulgar abuse of state power and highly reflective of the actions of a totalitarian state".<P class=StoryText align=justify>These are serious words indeed. But Mr Ennis, who is a former junior minister of finance, went further to say that the raid was designed to destroy the foreign exchange trading and investment club which, he suggested, should, instead, be encouraged, "as a possible boon to the Jamaican economy".<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The invasion of Olint's offices was, therefore, nothing more than the action of a bunch of economic Luddites, scared and uncertain of a bright new world," Mr Ennis charged.
We do not know if it was deliberate or just mere coincidence, but Mr Ennis's letter came a few days after the finance minister, Dr Omar Davies, had warned people who put money in alternative investment schemes, such as Olint, that they were doing so without the protection of the state.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is clear that Mr Ennis is on a collision course with his own Government. Indeed, the information minister, Mr Donald Buchanan, reiterated that "the Cabinet disassociates itself from Minister Ennis' pronouncements and we once again reaffirm our confidence in the FSC".<P class=StoryText align=justify>However, the question is, how much latitude is allowed to ministers to speak their conscience? As a country, we are still not yet very comfortable with government ministers or members of parliament adopting positions contrary to the administration or political party of which they are a part.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Last week, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MP Clive Mullings broke ranks with his Opposition colleagues who supported the Proceeds of Crime Bill in the House, saying he was depending on the Senate to rescue the bill by not passing it. The rhetoric was less strident than Mr Ennis', but it was encouraging to see that the JLP appears to be taking this one in stride.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Of course, it could be that Mr Ennis is trying to distance himself from the Portia Simpson Miller administration, and in this event, he should state so unequivocally.
In any event, we still don't see the need for a team to meet to discuss the matter.<P class=StoryText align=justify>
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