Government and party on trial

Robert Buddan, Gleaner Writer

Government will be on trial when the Commission of Enquiry into the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips affair meets to hear its first witness. The commission will not have the power of a court but it will proceed like a court. It will call and swear in witnesses. Witnesses will have counsel. But is this process a mere attempt at giving the commission an air of impartiality considering the controversy that hits at this very point? Critics say the commission, being headed by someone friendly to the ruling party, cannot be trusted to be independent enough to give a just decision. The commission is, in fact, a commission of the government executive headed by Bruce Golding whose conduct is being investigated.

At the same time, the new look Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), the party of the same Government, will be on trial of another sort. It will be tested to see if it, in fact, represents anything new. The party has turned away many of the faces that took it to power in 2007. It has established a new executive. The last time it had a new face was in 2003 when Bruce Golding and his slate took control of the party. Now another slate has taken seat but it is not clear yet if these persons have taken real power.

In the midst of all this, Harold Brady and Mr Golding are in court. Brady says he was defamed by Golding for statements made about his involvement in the Manatt affair. Golding says Brady had approached him about contacting the chairman of the Republican Party in the United States to assist in the Coke-extradition imbroglio. He, in turn, advised Brady to contact Chuck Manatt. Golding says he told Brady that he could contact the Republic Party but that he would be acting for the JLP. All of this will be clarified, hopefully, in the commission of enquiry as well.

The commission of enquiry could and should call the head of government, the prime minister. After all, he is the principal accused. About half of Jamaicans polled think he should resign for using the Government to try and protect a most-wanted party supporter in a matter that was for the governments of Jamaica and the United States and their court systems to deal with. The parliamentary Opposition tabled a motion of no confidence that would require him to resign. A number of business and civil-society organisations thought he should.

After dissent threatened to divide the party and embarrass it at its November annual conference, Golding announced that there would be a commission of enquiry after all. The People's National Party had demanded one. However, disturbingly, the commission was not to pass the test of appearing impartial. Its chairman is a long-time associate of the JLP. The other faction in the party, that supporting Howard Brady and other political ambitions, did not object. Emil George, the commission's chairman, might have been the compromise choice between the two, or among the many factions in the party.

There might have been another compromise and concession to keep the peace and avoid a public brawl. It might have been that a new guard would be allowed to contest for power in the party. It is almost as though those who were unhappy with the way the whole Coke matter had been handled, and who had been deeply embarrassed by it, were happy to have changes in the party, and keep Golding on with the condition that he appoints a commission of enquiry after which time they would decide if the findings require him to go.

While those in the party and those important financial sponsors embarrassed by the Government were being fed the commission of enquiry, the party was calling for changes. Ronald Robinson had resigned for his part in the Coke affair and some wanted to stick Karl Samuda, then general secretary, with blame for what had happened. Deputy Prime Minister Ken Baugh lost his honoured post as chairman of the party. He played a weak role, both as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, in the extradition. Mike Henry found his power growing. The US$400-million loan from China was needed to fix roads and infrastructure. Apart from everything else, that would be good for elections and the party had been so badly damaged by the Coke-Manatt affair, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) restraints, that it needed money desperately to win elections.

Henry, as the minister of transport and works, found that this huge amount fell under his ministry. If you were a member of parliament or candidate, you would want to be a friend of Henry's. That built his stock in the party. So, Henry got the acclamation to replace Baugh as chairman of the party. He is the new power broker in the party.

Big-time sponsors

Daryl Vaz, the deputy treasurer, who kept a close eye on Golding for the party's big-time sponsors, wanted to step into Samuda's seat as general secretary. Powerful and visible as Vaz is, he failed. Probably he was too close to Golding and to the Manatt affair. To reward him with the post of general secretary seemed perverse. The young Aundré Franklin surprisingly won the position. This is a big setback for Vaz.

This, along with the rise of Henry and Robert Montague, has also weakened Golding. But Golding still has friends among the new officers. Christopher Tufton, a new deputy leader of the party and friendly to the Vaz camp, considers himself important in negotiating Golding's way back into the JLP.

The public, that is, the jury, is out on what the commission of enquiry will accomplish. It is out on the new officers of the JLP. The commission, we have pointed out, seems compromised by the closeness of its chairman to the party. The new officer corps of the party is tainted by the presence of the very controversial deputy leader, James Robertson. A new and much-publicised controversy had broken just before the November conference. One of Robertson's named associates was astonishingly paraded on the party's conference platform. He has subsequently been arrested by the police. Robertson has denied association with guns, violence and murder, but the cloud hangs over his head and that of the party.

In contrast, the new officer corps is missing Andrew Holness. Holness is the person the public believes is or should be next in line to succeed Golding, according to recent polls.

The court can only fine Golding in the case with Brady. It cannot make him resign. The commission has the power to refer persons found guilty of misconduct to the "relevant authority or disciplinary body for appropriate action". The relevant authority could be the police or the party. The disciplinary body could be the JLP. The appropriate action could be anything. It could be Golding's removal or something less.

The new officer corps says its priority is to finalise the list of candidates for the next election. Does Mike Henry still have ambitions to be party leader and can he do it in time for those elections?

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona. Email: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm