PUBLIC OPINION , reinforced by scientific polls, has indicated that the credibility of the Golding administration has been severely dented in the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips controversy. Sixty-seven per cent of respondents in a recent poll said they did not believe the Government’s version of the story.
This was revealed in a Gleaner-commissioned survey conducted by Bill Johnson in late April and early May.
Sixteen per cent of those polled said they believed the Government’s explanation on the Manatt saga, while 17 per cent of the respondents reacted by saying they did not know.
Gleaner columnist and communications specialist Martin Henry said the actions of civil society in the last few months have transformed the way Jamaicans view public officials and public accountability.
“I think the stridency for accountability and transparency has never been as high in Jamaica as it is now and is not likely to fade away in another nine-day wonder,” Henry told The Gleaner.
Feelings of betrayal
Henry said he shared the majority sentiment that the full facts of the Manatt affair have not been revealed. According to him, the country still felt: “We are being sidelined in the information by the way the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) and the Government are handling the matter and I personally await a fuller revelation of what transpired, the reasons behind the decision taken, so that we can arrive at a fairer judgement as to what the JLP did, which so seriously and negatively affected the entire Jamaican society.”
After weeks of hopscotching on the Manatt issue, Prime Minister Bruce Golding admitted in May that he sanctioned the initiative for the JLP to retain the US law firm in an attempt to lobby the US government on the dispute arising from the extradition request for alleged drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
Mounting public pressure and increased calls from the Opposition and civil groups for the prime minister’s resignation forced Golding into survival mode. In a national broadcast, a contrite Golding apologised for not coming clean on the engagement of the US law firm when he was first asked about the matter by Dr Peter Phillips in Parliament on March 16. He also conceded that the JLP should not have approached Manatt to lobby the US government.
In March, the prime minister had shot down Phillips’ query, saying the Government had not retained the law firm to lobby the Obama administration
on the extradition request. He told the House then that the administration had only used the resources in the Attorney General’s Department to deal with the dispute between Jamaica and the US on the extradition matter.
While the poll showed that 64 per cent of Jamaicans heard about the Manatt affair, a significant 36 per cent had no knowledge of the issue.
From those who were acquainted with the Manatt debacle, a combination of 74 per cent disapproved or strongly disapproved with how the the Government’s handled the situation. Other respondents who approved or strongly approved with how the Government treated with the issue made up a combined 14 per cent. Another 12 per cent were non-committal.
The Bill Johnson poll, which surveyed 1,008 persons across Jamaica’s 14 parishes, has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.
Meanwhile, Henry said it would be useful to ascertain, in a general election, how Jamaicans felt about the continuation of the JLP administration.
“My own sentiment, backed by a little informal polling, is while Jamaicans in general recognise the shortcoming of the present administration in coming clean in how it handled the Manatt and extradition issues, as well as the Tivoli incursion, there is not any strident call at the moment for a change in administration or resignation of the PM,” he added.
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