EDITORIAL - The PM must avoid appearances of conflict

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, his information minister insists, paid for his recent bird-shooting holiday in Paraguay, not businessman Y.P. Seaton.

Indeed, Mr Daryl Vaz actually brought to Wednesday's briefing of journalists a negotiated cheque for J$730,000, drawn on Mr Golding's personal account at the Bank of Nova Scotia, as proof that the PM had reimbursed Mr Seaton for his holiday.

We have no basis for questioning Mr Vaz's explanation of his boss' action and, therefore, offer no opinion on the call for a legal investigation of the PM for ethics violation. But there are still matters worthy of discussion.

To start, there is little doubt, as Mr Vaz appeared to concede, that the whole affair was clumsily handled and has again brought into question Mr Golding's judgement in matters of potential conflict of interest, about which, he used to argue, the Jamaica political class was too loose.

Higher standard of accountability

Indeed, what Mr Golding seemed to have forgotten, or did not appreciate, is that he is now the prime minister of Jamaica and, therefore, likely to be held to a higher standard of accountability than a private citizen.

As Mr Vaz explained, Mr Golding and Mr Seaton have been friends for years. They often go on bird-shooting jaunts together, including some to Paraguay, organised by Mr Seaton through a travel agency he owns. Mr Seaton would pay upfront for the trips and is then reimbursed by other participants, including Mr Golding.

Mr Seaton also owns an engineering and construction company, which, according to the contractor general, Mr Greg Christie, has, over the past decade, been endorsed for J$2.698 billion worth of government contracts, not including recent ones as a subcontractor under the controversial Chinese-funded and -managed Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme. More than 85 per cent of the value of the jobs earmarked for award to Mr Seaton's company over the decade has been recommended since October 1, 2007, a period coinciding with Mr Golding's premiership.

Objective evidence needed

It is quite possible that Mr Seaton's company was the most competent to complete these jobs and made the most competitive bids for them. But as Mr Golding knows, his connections, personal or otherwise, with Mr Seaton were bound to raise questions, and an absence of conflict of interest must not only be presumed. It must be objectively seen to be the case.

Indeed, Mr Golding and his spokesmen used to make that case when he was in Opposition, and friends of the former administration appeared to receive a high proportion of state contracts.

So, while no one would expect the prime minister to ditch his long-time friends, or to operate in a sanitised bubble, transactions with them must be at arm's length and be verifiable.

The prime minister, and more so the office he occupies, with its constitutional powers and great influence, have to be above such controversies - even if, as Mr Vaz suggests, they are inadvertent. Indeed, Mr Golding and Mr Vaz, players in common in the Christopher Coke extradition affair, should have learnt their lessons from that event.

Let us hope that it has now sunk in. Mr Golding has to consistently remind himself that he is the prime minister. Or civil society must do the reminding.

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