The People’s National Party (PNP) was last night placed on election alert by its president, Portia Simpson Miller, who suggested that the Sunday Gleaner bombshell, revealing that the Jamaican Government had, in fact, been in bed with a United States law firm, might force the prime minister to quit.
Speaking at a constituency conference for South West Clarendon at Kemps Hill High School, Simpson Miller said Prime Minister Bruce Golding was too compromised to remain in office.
“Be prepared. Be on standby and listen for the sound of the trumpet,” said the PNP president, drawing on biblical imagery. “Wrong is wrong. I say to the prime minister tonight, enough is enough!”
Golding told the country that Manatt, Phelps & Phillips had been retained by the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to lobby the US government on the extradition issue involving alleged drug kingpin Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. He said he sanctioned the move, but gave instructions that it should not be a government matter.
However, emails obtained under the Access to Information Act and published in The Sunday Gleaner indicate that Manatt had acted on the behalf of the Government.
Last night, Simpson Miller told PNP supporters that when she read yesterday’s newspaper, “Like thousands of Jamaicans, I felt betrayed by the Government of Jamaica.
“Once again we discovered that they lied. But you know something, Comrades, they lied even when they are confessing that they have lied to the country,” she added.
According to Simpson Miller, who is also leader of the opposition, her party has “gotten used to the fact that the prime minister is comfortable, even when seen to be dishonourable.
“With respect to the emails reported in this morning’s Gleaner, it is more evident that the moral authority of the prime minister and his government is compromised,” she said.
The PNP attempted to censure Golding for his about-face in Parliament but failed, as the JLP triumphed with its superior numbers as members voted along party lines.
Then, Golding remarked, “The fate of the resolution rests with the members. My fate rests with God.”
Simpson Miller says the officers of the PNP have been summoned to a meeting today to determine the next course of action.
Talk of demonstration
Damion Crawford, the firebrand president of the PNP’s Youth Organisation, has hinted at leading a demonstration calling for the prime minister’s removal.
“Somehow, I feel a march coming. I am ready to march out. I think we need to get a removal truck and go down to the prime minister’s house and move him out,” Crawford said.
Meanwhile, president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Milton Samuda, has reiterated his call for an independent probe of the matter.
Samuda told The Gleaner yesterday that he was not surprised by the latest revelations about emails outlining the Government’s involvement with Manatt.
“I think, publicly, I have warned in the past that failure to deal decisively with full disclosure in relation to this was going to result in facts leaking out over a period of time and causing greater damage to all concerned, including Jamaica,” Samuda said.
In April, as the controversy surrounding the Jamaican Government’s involvement with the US-based law firm heightened, Samuda called for an independent enquiry.
The JCC issued a public statement that month, on the same day Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller also called for an independent probe.
“At this point in time, it doesn’t really matter to me what form the enquiry takes, as long as it’s independent, not conducted by the Government, and all the facts are made available,” Samuda said yesterday.
“Months ago, before that call became fashionable, we indicated (the enquiry) ought to be done,” Samuda added.
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