PNP's take on the Manatt affair

The following is a statement issued by the People's National Party (PNP) on the Manatt affair.

The Executive Committee and the Officer Corps of the People's National Party at meetings held on Monday, August 23, having engaged in a careful consideration of the reports carried in sections of the media over the weekend, in relation to the Manatt, Phelps and Phillips affair, are strongly of the view that the issues raised have the gravest implications for the integrity of the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General of Jamaica.

On the face of it, it is now clear that Manatt, Phelps and Phillips were operating in close collaboration with officials of the Government, including the Solicitor General, the Prime Minister and the Attorney General and working on behalf of the Government of Jamaica as distinct from the Jamaica Labour Party, from as far back as September 2009, a month after the request for the extradition of Christoper Coke was received from the United States authorities.

Questions arise

The emails bring into question the veracity of the claim of the Attorney General that she knew nothing of the matter until it was first raised in Parliament in March 2010. It also brings into question the suggestions of the Solicitor General that he was brought into a relationship with Manatt Phelps and Phillips on the basis of a chance meeting which occurred in December 2009.

Misrepresentation

Given this sequence of persistent misrepresentation and falsehood and the clear misleading of the Parliament, that is now even more apparent and the failure of the Prime Minister, who by his own admission, "sanctioned" this whole sordid affair, and in view further of the failure even up to this point, of the Prime Minister to give a full, comprehensive and truthful account of Government's role in this matter, it is the view of the People's National Party that the restoration of trust in our public institutions and the re-establishment of proper systems of accountability, that are at the heart of good governance, can only be secured on the basis of the resignations of the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General from their offices.

In the immediate future, the Party will be seeking dialogue with other national stakeholders to outline the basis of our conclusions more fully and to secure their support in this effort to restore faith in our public institutions and to rebuild the necessary trust in the structures of national governance.

These are essential if the country is to ever successfully surmount the various challenges which confront us, with respect to economic growth and critical social institutions in the health and education sectors and other areas of national life.