EDITORIAL - Right decision on Mike Henry

Andrew Holness, the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), hasn't said if he has met, or intends to meet, with the executive of the Central Clarendon constituency to explain why he left their parliamentarian, Mike Henry, out of the shadow cabinet.

Mr Holness is under no obligation to acquiesce to what many people would consider to be rude and offensive muscle-flexing by Mr Henry's coterie. But he should.

He should be bluntly frank in explaining that to have entertained Mr Henry in the shadow cabinet in the current circumstances would be irresponsible behaviour and breach of trust with the wider Jamaican electorate that would be detrimental to the renewal of the JLP.

Mr Holness should say, too, that if Mr Henry still harbours ambitions for a shadow cabinet position, he must work for it anew and prove to be worthy of it. But if Mr Henry is committed to the JLP then he should, perhaps, use his energies in other ways to rebuild his credibility, helping to position it as a party of the future.

The leader's decision

Maybe, too, the Central Clarendon executive needs to be provided with context, including the fact that, by convention, it is the sole prerogative of the leader of the opposition to choose who he wants to shadow ministerial portfolios. In this case, Mr Holness considered Mike Henry and decided against including him.

Mike Henry is 77. He was the minister of transport and works in the JLP administration that was booted from office in the December election after only four years in government. It was he who presided over the highly controversial Jamaica Infrastructure Development Programme (JDIP), the Chinese-financed road-repair scheme, where the money appeared to have been spent with the abandon of debauched, drunken sailors on shore leave.

Indeed, while he insists he was involved in no personal wrongdoing, Mr Henry resigned his cabinet post, claiming to have held himself accountable for the misbehaviour of agencies within his portfolio. Mr Holness, who had a short stint as prime minister towards the end of the JLP's tenure, implied that Mr Henry was fired.

Important factor

These details matter little. What is important is the larger principle of responsibility and accountability which, in Mr Henry's case, didn't lapse merely because his party is not now in government. In any event, there is an ongoing investigation into JDIP in which Mr Henry will no doubt be a primary figure.

The behaviour of the Central Clarendon executive is all the more unseemly given that Mr Henry is the JLP's chairman, a job that obliges him to strive for harmony in his party and prevent the kind of public agitation that is taking place in his cause. And Mr Henry could hardly make the case that he does not have great influence over the executive of his constituency.

Mike Henry, in many respects, is a metaphor for older members of the JLP who may not have come to terms with the fact that their party is in transition with a young leader at the helm.

Their best contribution to the JLP would be to appreciate this normal and natural order of life and help their new leader to grow in the job, and to fashion a party about which Jamaicans are comfortable as the alternative government.

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