Mark Wignall | Let the Ambassador go

With a general election knocking on our gate, whether we answer it or not it is not a secret that we love to have good times. We love to go out and dance. Kiss and get close together.

Believe it or not there are few things we like as much as a funeral. Speaking of the word dead. In Jamaica I notice that the government remains dead silent on the SSL affair. Just so we remember SSL represents a special dark spot in Jamaica’s financial matters, here and abroad, but specially crafted to attract the homegrown wealthy.

So far we know that a wealth advisor apparently lost her marbles and many people who trusted the entity lost much. One man I know lost US$100,000. And then of course, there was Usain Bolt. In that instance, there was a multiplicity of pain, and luck. Bolt was lucky because his financial options were many.

A relatively recent development caught my attention. Our national icon and world beloved athlete Usain Bolt had grumbled publicly in the last few months about the status of the whole sordid SSL saga. Soon after he grumbled the government to great fanfare announced Bolt was named a tourism ambassador for Jamaica.

Bolt is one of the most universally recognised people in the world and I would proffer one of the most loved and admired people in the world for his incredible achievements and great charisma. Naming him a tourism ambassador makes good sense. But the timing of the whole thing is curious, to say the least. Bolt has been retired for a while now.

He has had world famous fame for a long time. The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has been in power for some nine years. He could have been named a tourism ambassador five or four years ago. Yet, he was only named a tourism ambassador in an election year and after grumbling about what was going on as to the SSL affair, which is extremely delicate for the JLP.

As tourism ambassador I assume he will get paid. He certainly deserves to be paid. His worldwide fame entitles him to such. But what he being paid for?

In other words, did the government propose to Bolt that they will appoint him tourism ambassador, pay him well for the role and ask him to ease up on his public statements about SSL and the loss of his money? Or by appointing him tourism ambassador was it implied he would not be critical of the status of the SSL saga? No details were released as to what Bolt’s compensation would be. If so, how is that fair to all the others who lost money. They do not have his fame, but they have suffered as well. Because their noise making and suffering is not an issue for the JLP they are ignored, but Bolt’s public comments are a great concern to the JLP, and he is dealt with differently.

It is difficult not to concur that the JLP has fallen off the moral bankruptcy wagon. Not just yesterday. I strongly believe that is what happened. In plain language that is not right. Ambassador Bolt is now caught up in the JLP secret.

Last Monday I called a well known public official, who informed: “We have Bolt on a programme, its via JTB contract.”

Tuesday, nothing had changed. I told the official I had time. At the time of writing this article – Thursday – I still had no further details of the ambassador’s monetary package. This is plainly, not good enough.

Why is there this need for a hush hush?

NAVIGATING WARMINGTON

Here comes Warmington announcing that ‘we’ could never elect a white Jewish man to lead us again. So the JLP has adopted chapter and verse the Republican playbook of spreading hate to try to win an election.

I am Jamaican and I am embarrassed. He is an overall horror story.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.