Messy Country and unethical practices
The government of Jamaica is accused of using 'state revenues' to fund their annual party conference. It turns out that a Dutch firm, with which the country does business with, has donated about Jamaica thirty-one million dollars(JMD$31,000,000) to the governing political party, the Peoples National Party(PNP). This is the same Dutch firm that is accused of involvement in the oil for food scandal and the dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast. While the party admits receiving the payment, wired to a particular account, they claim nothing is shady or questionable and it is all above board.
If the figures you hear are correct, this company would have donated to one political party, a figure equivalent to one-fifth of the revenue the country earned over the last five years from the deal, which revolves around reselling Nigerian oil on behalf of the state.
There are some other interesting things about this. Although the named account is acknowledged to be a PNP account there is nothing in the name that suggest PNP. Secondly the address given for the account is a Portmore address while the PNP headquarters' address is Old Hope Road St. Andrew.
If there have been other donations we don't know. If there have been donations to other political parties we do not know but the Jamaica Labour Party(JLP) denies receiving any. While there might be nothing illegal about this transaction it clearly has some ethically issues, which should be seen except maybe by those with heavily tinted glasses. In this Jamaica, at the risk of being accused of being a 'perkinsite', the former prime minister has already said, 'the law is not shackle' and another government minister has said that the man that plays by the rules is the man that gets shafted. If the law is not a problem why should ethics?
Golding could have found a better way.
While I will agree with observers that Leader of the Opposition, Bruce Golding, could have found a better way, the substance of the issue must not be missed. Personally if those documents had landed in my possession I would have revealed every detail without calling names or revealing the source of the documents given their confidential nature. This would have removed to a great extent the threat of suit and other actions and not led to so much questions and discussions about broken bank-client confidentiality.
The calling of company names, individual names and branding the copy of the documents around has shifted the attention away from a one serious issue to the other. This is a lesson Bruce Golding and the JLP need to learn. They need to be more thorough and remember the market they are operating in. Remember after all they are selling themselves. Knowing that the press seems to be more anti-JLP and perennial apologists for the PNP, if I was a member of the JLP leadership team I would have gone for a different approach. The JLP needs help in marketing and public relations practices.
I remember the approach by a certain Jamaica Observer columnist some years ago where instead of calling any names, detailed a very sorry situation. This led to the unnamed accused talk-show host turned politician admission, that the facts related to him and subsequent resignation.
Unethical Practices
One of ethical and legal issues coming out this mess is the practice of leaking information to the press or political parties. Another is the privacy of one's information anywhere. Last week we had the issue of a Doctor at the Victoria Jubliee Hospital being reprimanded for blowing the whistle on the poor state of affairs at the hospital. My mother told me that once more that one person knows about something is no longer a secret and I believe her.
Missing Report
This sorry issue has also led to the censure of Karl Samuda being pushed to the background. The censure motion is over the claim that Mr Karl Samuda misled the house over the existence of the Hilton report. This report was to be on the investigation of the Whitehouse Project requested by the Prime Minister of the time, P.J. Patterson.
Mr. Karl Samuda claims there was this report and that the Prime Minister of the time and cabinet had it. They said they knew of no such report and had not received it. The person who was to have prepared to the report, while not denying that there was a report, denied submitting any report. Mr. Golding turns up at the house with a copy of the report and attempts to distribute it, which after attempts by the government side to stop him he is finally allowed to do. In the end, it seems to all boiled down to a technicality that while the report in some form exists, it might be more in the form of a 'draft' but 'officially' it does not exist and if it does not 'officially' exist no one 'officially' knows of it.
Related
Bruce Golding accuses Jamaican Government of using oil money to finance conference
Karl Samuda censured, committee to decide fate
Denies Jamaica Labour Party(JLP) claims that it spent state funds
Threats to sue Bruce Golding
From another blogger
Gas Scandal
If the figures you hear are correct, this company would have donated to one political party, a figure equivalent to one-fifth of the revenue the country earned over the last five years from the deal, which revolves around reselling Nigerian oil on behalf of the state.
There are some other interesting things about this. Although the named account is acknowledged to be a PNP account there is nothing in the name that suggest PNP. Secondly the address given for the account is a Portmore address while the PNP headquarters' address is Old Hope Road St. Andrew.
If there have been other donations we don't know. If there have been donations to other political parties we do not know but the Jamaica Labour Party(JLP) denies receiving any. While there might be nothing illegal about this transaction it clearly has some ethically issues, which should be seen except maybe by those with heavily tinted glasses. In this Jamaica, at the risk of being accused of being a 'perkinsite', the former prime minister has already said, 'the law is not shackle' and another government minister has said that the man that plays by the rules is the man that gets shafted. If the law is not a problem why should ethics?
Golding could have found a better way.
While I will agree with observers that Leader of the Opposition, Bruce Golding, could have found a better way, the substance of the issue must not be missed. Personally if those documents had landed in my possession I would have revealed every detail without calling names or revealing the source of the documents given their confidential nature. This would have removed to a great extent the threat of suit and other actions and not led to so much questions and discussions about broken bank-client confidentiality.
The calling of company names, individual names and branding the copy of the documents around has shifted the attention away from a one serious issue to the other. This is a lesson Bruce Golding and the JLP need to learn. They need to be more thorough and remember the market they are operating in. Remember after all they are selling themselves. Knowing that the press seems to be more anti-JLP and perennial apologists for the PNP, if I was a member of the JLP leadership team I would have gone for a different approach. The JLP needs help in marketing and public relations practices.
I remember the approach by a certain Jamaica Observer columnist some years ago where instead of calling any names, detailed a very sorry situation. This led to the unnamed accused talk-show host turned politician admission, that the facts related to him and subsequent resignation.
Unethical Practices
One of ethical and legal issues coming out this mess is the practice of leaking information to the press or political parties. Another is the privacy of one's information anywhere. Last week we had the issue of a Doctor at the Victoria Jubliee Hospital being reprimanded for blowing the whistle on the poor state of affairs at the hospital. My mother told me that once more that one person knows about something is no longer a secret and I believe her.
Missing Report
This sorry issue has also led to the censure of Karl Samuda being pushed to the background. The censure motion is over the claim that Mr Karl Samuda misled the house over the existence of the Hilton report. This report was to be on the investigation of the Whitehouse Project requested by the Prime Minister of the time, P.J. Patterson.
Mr. Karl Samuda claims there was this report and that the Prime Minister of the time and cabinet had it. They said they knew of no such report and had not received it. The person who was to have prepared to the report, while not denying that there was a report, denied submitting any report. Mr. Golding turns up at the house with a copy of the report and attempts to distribute it, which after attempts by the government side to stop him he is finally allowed to do. In the end, it seems to all boiled down to a technicality that while the report in some form exists, it might be more in the form of a 'draft' but 'officially' it does not exist and if it does not 'officially' exist no one 'officially' knows of it.
Related
Bruce Golding accuses Jamaican Government of using oil money to finance conference
Karl Samuda censured, committee to decide fate
Denies Jamaica Labour Party(JLP) claims that it spent state funds
Threats to sue Bruce Golding
From another blogger
Gas Scandal
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