Answers please, PM
Published:Monday | October 4, 2010 | 12:00 AM
THE MATTER of the Manatt emails will come up in Gordon House tomorrow and again Prime Minister Bruce Golding is in the hot seat to answer question about this messy affair.
Dr Omar Davies, the MP for South St Andrew, gave notice of the questions on July 20. They were to be answered on August 10 by Golding, but the Parliament went off for summer recess. The questions relate to the contents of the Manatt emails and the extent to which state officials used their offices to get Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to lobby for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
If the last sitting of the House of Representatives is anything to go by, Golding could be evasive when he answers the questions.
One will recall that although Andrew Holness, the leader of government business, gave the undertaking that the prime minister would answer the question, he did so only after pointing to the fact that the issues raised are public knowledge. Holness said the Standing Orders allow members not to answer questions if the answers are publicly known.
Tell the full story
This newspaper, after much tug-o-war with the Ministry of Justice, had obtained and published email correspondence between Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Solicitor General Douglas Leys. Those emails, though, we believe, do not tell the full story of Jamaica's engagement of the US law firm. We believe there are more mails that have not been released to The Gleaner.
The prime minister, when he speaks, has a responsibility to put aside the green party coat which he has been using as a firewall to the whole story whenever he speaks in Parliament on the subject.
This matter, as far as we are concerned, is not a sexy scandal and no one should attempt to treat it as such. Instead, it is the view of The Gavel, based on the half-truths and misspeak from the mouths of government operatives, that some of our most revered offices are compromised.
The parliamentary opposition has opined that Golding is unfit for the Office of Prime Minister and has voted for him to be removed by the House. That no-confidence motion failed.
Jamaica's Eli
The Opposition has also used its political platform to pressure the Prime Minister to step aside, claiming a betrayal of trust. They have likened him to the biblical Eli.
Eli was one of the last Israelite Judges before the rule of kings in ancient Israel. Biblical history recalls that despite Eli's sons displaying corrupt and contemptuous behaviour in God's service, he allowed them to remain and defile the Holy Place.
Jamaica, though far from being hallowed ground, must not have her name tarnished or her image damaged by anyone. Thus, the Prime Minster cannot allow himself to be Jamaica's Eli.
When he speaks tomorrow, he must tell the Parliament the whole truth about the government's role in engaging Manatt, Phelps & Phillips - cost it what it will. Hopefully, the matter would then finally be put to rest.
Questions asked of Golding by Davies
1.
Does the Prime Minister recall my asking him, here in Parliament,
whether the email messages which he had indicated had been exchanged
between the Solicitor-General and the law firm, Manatt, Phelps &
Phillips, could be made public?
2. If the answer to Part 1
is in the affirmative, does the Prime Minister recall his response that
he would seek legal opinion as to whether these email messages could be
made public?
3. If the answer to Part 2 is in the
affirmative, would the Prime Minister indicate whether he has sought
legal opinion on the matter?
4. If the answer to Part 3 is in the affirmative, would the Prime Minister indicate whether he has received the opinion?
5. If the answer to Part 4 is in the affirmative, would the Prime Minister table the opinion which he has received?
6.
If the answer to Part 4 is in the negative, would the Prime Minister
indicate the reason for the delay and indicate when the opinion will be
available?