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Is PNP Watchdog A Pit Bull Or Chihuahua?
Is PNP Watchdog A Pit Bull Or Chihuahua?
Published: Friday | July 20, 2012 0 Comments
André Wright, Opinion Editor
Jamaican PM Portia Simpson Miller must be cursing her luck. Just when the party president thought she had finished fighting the Trafigura and Olint fires, she might still have to reach into her pocket for that crumpled piece of paper with the stock response that has rescued her before: "Ask the PNP."
The eyebrow-raising police raid of the homes of two PNP councillors, Montego Bay's Deputy Mayor Michael Troupe and Sylvan Reid, triggered the Pavlovian slobber that glistens on the lips and chins of political atheists and puts a knowing sparkle in their eyes: "Seet deh! Di whole a dem a criminal! Dats why mi nah vote fi none o' dem!"
Never mind Troupe and the supposed scammer troops have not been charged. Never mind the public has no hard evidence that they've defrauded gullible, elderly foreigners of their 401Ks. Never mind that Jamaican cops whisk away hundreds of 'suspects' in trucks every year without preferring charges or gathering a shred of evidence.
"Kill the bastards and burn their bodies," bays the bloodthirsty crowd in the talk-show Colosseum. They may yet get their wish.
This latest twist in the lotto scam drama underscores the doubts about both political parties' self-policing mechanisms, including the PNP's Integrity Commission. It's not whether the Integrity Commission is 100 per cent impregnable; it's whether the vetting body was ever efficaciously empowered and financed to catch the dregs.
COMMENDABLE CONCEPT
The PNP's concept of an Integrity Commission is commendable, but was it designed to be a probing bulwark against corruption? Do the commissioners have at their bidding private investigators to do detailed background checks on ALL persons who come forward to represent the party? What is the commission's budget? Is it realistic, or merely a good PR ploy to give voters the impression that there is a pit bull at the gate when there's really a cockeyed chihuahua? Is there full disclosure on income streams and assets?
Don't forget the PNP's insistence that it would not publicise considerations or rulings from the commission on the rejects. After all, non-disclosure could very well have its perks. There's always Plan B: Any potential candidate who 'failed' the integrity sniff test might have been spared public embarrassment and parachuted into a cushy consultant/adviser job, where the criteria are less discriminating.
What may be emerging as a nexus of crime and politics raises questions about whether party activists are able to influence the hierarchy - and, by extension, the Integrity Commission - to turn a blind eye to the big funders who are too important to campaign financing and the corralling of the voting herds into polling booths.
'Bebe', who the police have arrested and consider a kingpin in the Montego Bay lotto scam, has had more than an arm's-length relationship with the PNP. Now the cops have thrown bracelets on two PNP politicians and their relatives or associates. Not surprisingly, the PNP has equivocated on whether Bebe funded the party nationally, or regionally.
RESCUE PNP FROM ITSELF
These men are innocent until proven guilty. But the Integrity Commission, led by Bishop Wellesley Blair, and including Cedric McCalla, Daisy Coke, Burchell Whiteman and Fred Hamaty, must rescue the PNP from itself and restore shine to its image, as well as theirs.
The great pity of this situation is that few are looking to the Opposition to be a moral force on weeding out shady characters, after the Golding administration's collusion to shield Jamaica's chief gangster, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. The now opposition leader and most of his spokesmen said not a word in condemnation when in government. They never resigned in outrage. They hoped to ride out the storm, but drowned in the electoral tidal wave.
The odour from the Greens and the Oranges is stifling. The PNP and JLP owe it to themselves and the citizenry to be transparent on the inner workings of their candidate-selection committees and ensure their watchmen, and the vetting process, have wide public confidence.
If Messrs Troupe and Reid fail to step down voluntarily and spare the St James Parish Council disrepute in their bid to clear their names, Mrs Simpson Miller should use her considerable weight and show them the plank. Or she can cop out by saying, "Ask the PNP."
The above comments do not necessarily represent those of The Gleaner. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.
Published: Friday | July 20, 2012 0 Comments
André Wright, Opinion Editor
Jamaican PM Portia Simpson Miller must be cursing her luck. Just when the party president thought she had finished fighting the Trafigura and Olint fires, she might still have to reach into her pocket for that crumpled piece of paper with the stock response that has rescued her before: "Ask the PNP."
The eyebrow-raising police raid of the homes of two PNP councillors, Montego Bay's Deputy Mayor Michael Troupe and Sylvan Reid, triggered the Pavlovian slobber that glistens on the lips and chins of political atheists and puts a knowing sparkle in their eyes: "Seet deh! Di whole a dem a criminal! Dats why mi nah vote fi none o' dem!"
Never mind Troupe and the supposed scammer troops have not been charged. Never mind the public has no hard evidence that they've defrauded gullible, elderly foreigners of their 401Ks. Never mind that Jamaican cops whisk away hundreds of 'suspects' in trucks every year without preferring charges or gathering a shred of evidence.
"Kill the bastards and burn their bodies," bays the bloodthirsty crowd in the talk-show Colosseum. They may yet get their wish.
This latest twist in the lotto scam drama underscores the doubts about both political parties' self-policing mechanisms, including the PNP's Integrity Commission. It's not whether the Integrity Commission is 100 per cent impregnable; it's whether the vetting body was ever efficaciously empowered and financed to catch the dregs.
COMMENDABLE CONCEPT
The PNP's concept of an Integrity Commission is commendable, but was it designed to be a probing bulwark against corruption? Do the commissioners have at their bidding private investigators to do detailed background checks on ALL persons who come forward to represent the party? What is the commission's budget? Is it realistic, or merely a good PR ploy to give voters the impression that there is a pit bull at the gate when there's really a cockeyed chihuahua? Is there full disclosure on income streams and assets?
Don't forget the PNP's insistence that it would not publicise considerations or rulings from the commission on the rejects. After all, non-disclosure could very well have its perks. There's always Plan B: Any potential candidate who 'failed' the integrity sniff test might have been spared public embarrassment and parachuted into a cushy consultant/adviser job, where the criteria are less discriminating.
What may be emerging as a nexus of crime and politics raises questions about whether party activists are able to influence the hierarchy - and, by extension, the Integrity Commission - to turn a blind eye to the big funders who are too important to campaign financing and the corralling of the voting herds into polling booths.
'Bebe', who the police have arrested and consider a kingpin in the Montego Bay lotto scam, has had more than an arm's-length relationship with the PNP. Now the cops have thrown bracelets on two PNP politicians and their relatives or associates. Not surprisingly, the PNP has equivocated on whether Bebe funded the party nationally, or regionally.
RESCUE PNP FROM ITSELF
These men are innocent until proven guilty. But the Integrity Commission, led by Bishop Wellesley Blair, and including Cedric McCalla, Daisy Coke, Burchell Whiteman and Fred Hamaty, must rescue the PNP from itself and restore shine to its image, as well as theirs.
The great pity of this situation is that few are looking to the Opposition to be a moral force on weeding out shady characters, after the Golding administration's collusion to shield Jamaica's chief gangster, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. The now opposition leader and most of his spokesmen said not a word in condemnation when in government. They never resigned in outrage. They hoped to ride out the storm, but drowned in the electoral tidal wave.
The odour from the Greens and the Oranges is stifling. The PNP and JLP owe it to themselves and the citizenry to be transparent on the inner workings of their candidate-selection committees and ensure their watchmen, and the vetting process, have wide public confidence.
If Messrs Troupe and Reid fail to step down voluntarily and spare the St James Parish Council disrepute in their bid to clear their names, Mrs Simpson Miller should use her considerable weight and show them the plank. Or she can cop out by saying, "Ask the PNP."
The above comments do not necessarily represent those of The Gleaner. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.
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