General secretary of the National Democratic Movement, Michael Williams, yesterday called on three of Jamaica’s most influen-tial organisations to stop giving donations to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
“The PSOJ (Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica), JMA (Jamaica Manufacturers’ Associa-tion) and JCC (Jamaica Chamber of Commerce) should starve them of funds because they are not worthy,” an angry Williams told The Gleaner.
Williams said the NDM was devastated by Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s decision not to resign after admitting that he gave the go-ahead, in his capacity as party leader, for American law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to represent it in the extradition case of alleged drug baron Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
Golding made the surprise announcement last Tuesday in Parliament, six weeks after denying the Opposition People’s National Party’s claim that the Government had contracted the California firm to act on its behalf in extradition talks with United States authorities.
US law-enforcement agencies say Coke is leader of the notorious Shower Posse. They have implicated him in gunrunning and the trafficking of illegal drugs between Jamaica and the US.
During a press conference at the Sandals Grande hotel in Ocho Rios, Foreign Affairs Minister Kenneth Baugh and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda said the JLP’s Central Executive cleared the prime minister of inappropriate behaviour.
Williams, who had called for Golding’s resignation, said the JLP’s stance will hurt Jamaica’s image.
“It’s going to bring Jamaica in the eyes of the world as a statethat supports donmanship and gangsterism,” Williams said.
Golding was president of the NDM from 1995-2001. He left the party after six years to return to the JLP just ahead of the October 2002 general election.
He succeeded Edward Seaga as JLP president in early 2006.
Be the first to comment