Manatt mess divides Jamaica Labour Party
Published:Friday | September 17, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
Prime Minister Bruce Golding, the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), and his general secretary, Karl Samuda, have survived to renew battle, following a bruising showdown on Wednesday.
But it appears that the fate of Harold Brady, the man at the centre of the latest controversy in the JLP, continues to hang in the balance.
The sore issue of Brady's membership status, which had unleashed the passion of party officials, was taken out of the hands of the executive.
It is understood that Golding was peeved on Wednesday when most party members refused to make a public statement supporting his position that Brady was no longer a member of the JLP.
It's understood that Brady is prepared to challenge the party in the courts.
After strong words were traded with the likelihood that proverbial blood would be spilled, the decision was made by exhausted committee members to establish a sub-committee to deal with the issue.
A statement issued by the JLP yesterday said Samuda told the committee that Brady was "not a member in good standing up to the time of the prime minister's statement, as his dues had not been paid for three years and his failure to regularly attend Central Executive meetings led to him being ineligible to attend official party meetings".
Damage control
What started out as a battle reminiscent of the 1990 western dissident row with former JLP leader Edward Seaga fizzled late last night into a desperate bid at damage control.
The lines were drawn when Golding claimed on Tuesday that Brady was not a member of the governing party and had been removed from all public-sector boards.
Brady countered that he was not only a member of the JLP but part of its most powerful organ - its Central Executive - and remained on some public-sector boards.
Samuda was expected to rush to Golding's defence, but this was not to be.
It was Samuda who had been asked to do damage control last year on behalf of the JLP early in the Manatt controversy when Brady fired a wicked salvo at Deputy Treasurer Daryl Vaz, who is also the information minister, during a radio interview.
At the time, the matter was taken out of Vaz's grasp and foisted into Samuda's.
But this was just before Golding's admission to Parliament sparked a firestorm across the country.
This week, the resulting silence of the normally outspoken Samuda, regarded as the voice of the party in his capacity as general secretary, served as a big blow to Golding and his loyalists.
Sources say Samuda refused to support Golding's position on the matter.
Gleaner sources revealed that Samuda is sympathetic to Brady, whom he believed had gone to Manatt in good faith to save the party and the Government from the predicament in which it had eventually been thrown.
The likely demise of both men was not far from the lips of party stalwarts as they watched how the drama would be played out.
Failed meeting
The Vale Royal meeting failed to resolve the dispute and members turned to party headquarters, Belmont Road, Wednesday night - the place where internal party battles have been fought over the years.
Lawyers were called in to interpret the membership issue but this only served to extend the wrangling.
Both Golding and Samuda are no strangers to battles in the JLP.
Samuda was booted from the party in 1991 during the so-called Gang of Five controversy for speaking out of turn.
Golding left the JLP to form the National Democratic Movement during the fractious western dissident row in 1995.