Of courtesies and duties

Bert Samuels, Contributor

The nation is yet to hear from its Chief Servant the reason behind his pending resignation as prime minister of Jamaica. The Constitution requires that Mr Golding be - first, by way of victory at the polls - a representative of the people of a constituency. For him to make the leap from member of parliament to prime minister, he must satisfy the governor general that he is the MP "... best able to command the confidence of a majority of the members of that House". (Section 71 of our Constitution).

The House with our repre-sentatives - a House, the majority of which reposed in Golding their, and by extension, our confidence - must be where our prime minister has a duty to advise the people's representatives of the reason(s) leading to his decision to demit the honourable office in which he serves all of us. The prime minister needs to be told that his announcement to his party is by way of courtesy only, but that he also has an obligation to account to us, in a sitting of Parliament, the basis on which he is giving up his job.

He clutched at straws when he referred to former Prime Minister Michael Manley's announcement of his resignation, thereby losing sight of his constitutional obligation to us all. As it turned out, Golding was again wrong. Manley made his public broadcast within hours of the announcement to his party officers, on the very same day!

Public duty

Unfortunately, our prime minister classified as harassment in Tuesday's sitting of the House the demands for him to discharge his public duty and tell us why he is giving up the high office to which we appointed him. His unfortunate choice of words was used at his first appearance in the House, following his closed-door meeting with his party officials, where they may or may not have been given a reason.

History will record this as a lost opportunity he ought to have used to explain to the people the basis on which he prematurely threw in the towel.

This unreasonable delay has thrown the country into unne-cessary suspense, anxious to have closure on this chapter of Mr Golding's fledgling career, so we may have a new leader assume the driver's seat in a vehicle now sliding out of control.

Mr Golding, may I respectfully remind you that you are prime minister and chief servant of Jamaica, and not of your party; a necessary distinction of which you so often seem to lose sight.

Bert Samuels is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and bert.samuels@gmail.com.