'Don't seek scapegoats'

• Clergyman warns against Manatt report coming down heavily on civil servants

Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer

With the highly anticipated Manatt-Dudus commission of enquiry report slated to be presented to Cabinet later today, a prominent local clergyman says he hopes its recommendations will not see any of the nation's civil servants bearing the brunt of the blame.

"If the report attempts to make any (civil servant) a scapegoat, I would be extremely disappointed, and my disappointment would border very much on anger," the Reverend Karl Johnson, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union, said.

Johnson was responding to the question of recommendation he would make if he was a member of the commission.

severe sanctions

At the same time, he suggested that booting some individuals from office should be high on the agenda.

"I hope the recommendations bring severe sanctions to public officials who overstep their boundaries," he declared. "This should include a strong call for them to demit office," Johnson said.

In the meantime, human-rights activist Yvonne McCalla Sobers, while adding that her recommendations would definitely require that some political figures get the axe, said her greatest concern was that of the credibility of the chairman as a result of the manner in which the commission was appointed.

"I would have wanted to make sure I have the support of both (the People's National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party). The appointments were made without the necessary consultations, so I think the commissioners were put in a difficult place to have the credibility that was needed," she said.

Additionally, McCalla Sobers took issue with how the commission was handled, adding that this, too, might impact on the recommendations for the way forward.

"It looked to me like everybody else took charge, other than those who were appointed," she lamented. " In some instances, it seemed as if (the commissioners) were the dog and the others were the tail wagging the dog."