What a difference six years make

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Six years ago when our former Prime Minister P J Patterson opened Jamaica's shores to Haiti's ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, he collected kudos from sections of the local and regional community.

"A wonderful gesture," is how St Vincent and the Grenadines' Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves described the move, which, according to Mr Patterson, was made on humanitarian grounds in order to facilitate Mr Aristide's reunion with his family pending the conclusion of arrangements for his permanent exile elsewhere.

Others were less understanding.

"It is a sort of diplomatic controversy that we would have done well to avoid... for example, Mr Aristide's lawyers... made statements that following consultations with Mr Aristide they're filing legal action against the United States Government for allegedly removing him from Haiti against his will, and against four French officials... for (alleged) complicity in his forced removal from Haiti... Now, are those legal initiatives going to be pursued under his directive from his temporary domicile in Jamaica, and where is that going to put us in terms of an unnecessary diplomatic row?"

Guess who that piece of reasoning came from?

Answer: None other than our own Prime Minister Bruce Golding whose Jamaica Labour Party was in Opposition at the time.

The wisdom of staying in the good books of the United States, albeit at the expense of a regional colleague, who was accused, not of drug-running, but of being wrong for the country which he was democratically elected to govern, seemed pretty clear to Mr Golding back then.

Fast-forward to 2010.

Once again Jamaica is at odds with the United States, this time over the reputed Don of Mr Golding's West Kingston constituency, Mr Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, whom the US wants to answer charges of gun- and drug-running.

And even though the current plot involves far more complex legal issues which need to be resolved in a court of law, the implications are the same.

We are staring down the face of a diplomatic row.

And no matter how much we quarrel among ourselves, no matter how much Mr Golding tries to mask his relationship with Mr Coke with his selective flashes of respect for due process and constitutional rights, the problem is not going to just fade away.

No, this one seems to be here to stay until it is resolved -- one way or another.

In the meantime what do we do?

Do we join hands with Mr Dwight Nelson, our national security minister, and skip past the elephant that is called 'Mr President'? Do we pretend that his advice to the Senate on Friday regarding the inaccuracies of the data in the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report is the most important issue with which to concern ourselves just now?

According to Mr Nelson, the number of arrests for drug offences as at 2009 stood at 8,465 -- an increase of 1,408, or 20 per cent over the previous year -- not 6,346 as quoted by the report.

As regards the report's rather stinging observation that "The GOJ's ambitious anti-corruption and anti-crime legislative agenda announced in 2007 remains stalled in Parliament" Mr Nelson, true to the traditional point-and-blame protocol, blamed the delay -- albeit with some justification -- on the Opposition.

We're sure that there's a point to all of this.

Too bad the elephant's blocking it.

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COMMENTS (8)

3/8/2010

//Wharf Dawg
3/7/2010
To the person who wrote about the Observer being a joke.. that may be so. However, you spoke of facts, yet you could not state the date of the events which you alluded to//
I was trying to find it. Mr. Golding used to write a column for the Jamaica Observer it was in this column that he made his comments. It was also in the column section of the Jamaica Observer that he was rebuked by the USA Ambassador.
Regardless of the dates and whether or not I can locate the comments the fact is the Sunday Observer seems to be very confused in its attempt to put the Dudus matter and the Aristride event on equal footing.

3/8/2010

My advice to the Jamaica Observer before you wrote another Editorial do some research on your own reporting (at least) when is comes to Drug interdiction and extradition.
You can find some of your own clips here:
United States Information Service:
31 July 1997:
CONCERNS ABOUT SOVEREIGNTY IN THE BATTLE AGAINST DRUGS
Foreign Media Reaction Report
http://bit.ly/aFZObm
....TG....

Wharf Dawg
3/8/2010

To the person who wrote about the Observer being a joke.. that may be so. However, you spoke of facts, yet you could not state the date of the events which you alluded to. Yet the Observer could date Mr Golding comments yet you say they are not facts.
You can throw words around while frothing at the mouth. The Observer is the only media house willing to cut your beloved PM some slack. That it chose to question the principles of Mr. Golding is quite telling.
What you must come to grips with is that Ms Golding is the Prime Minister and his actions do not correlate with his past positions. In short, he is unprincipled and is one act away from being a despot.

3/7/2010

LOL the Jamaica Observer is joke.
I remember in an article in the Jamaica Observer Mr. Golding questioned USA actions that might have led to some folks to hate the USA enough to want to bomb a major population center (I was trying to find the exact reference and failed). In any case it led to a stinging rebuke by the USA Ambassador at the time and the Comrades who claimed Mr. Golding was ticking off a friend of Jamaica.
To use the arguments in the Aristide matter as proof of Mr. Golding kowtowing to USA shows just hope petty and partisan The Fourth Plantation is Jamaica is and the kind of yellow journal;ism for which the Observer since is inception have come to symbolize.
The former Prime Minister of Jamaica inserted himself and Jamaica into Haiti affair, taking sides with Aristide against the USA for reasons that was not quite clear then. This was pure madness and we saw the end results.
In this case Short Man is Jamaican living in Jamaica there was no getting around this issue one way or another.
This is not an imported diplomatic row, such as the Haitian matter.
Prior to the his Party's victory there have been numerous examples of Mr. Golding coming down on the side of Human Rights, one famous example is the Banagarang Comments when he was standing up for the rigts of some Jamaican lads left for ours to sit in boiling sun during a police raid in which not one arrest was made, except for a knife and I think for a spliff.
After the JLP won Mr. Golding following the wishes of some in his Party and The Fourth Plantation forgot all he said about the rights on Jamaican citizens. If the old Golding has returned and is again willing to go to bat for Jamaicans living in Jamaica we shoul;d welcome that and not you lies, obsfucation and bias arguements to cast aspertions on him.
Report and commment faithfully the facts and just the facts!

donny schwartz
3/7/2010

Mr. Editor, there are two separate matters in play. The fact that you fail to make the distinction simply means that any attempt I make to posit an argument here will be an exercise in futility. You seem to flip flop between intelligence and a sort of annoying ignorance in your editorials. Think about it. What two issues could I possibly be referring to?

Alloy T
3/7/2010

How different is our government from those lawless individuals who block roads and make alot of noise when the police force arrest a known criminal in their community. Even when there are major evidences revealing the illegal acts of these criminals (or socalled area leaders) the road blockers and time wasters would professed that the 'area leader' is innocent and a good person. Our government, especially our PM is behaving like these illiterate supporters of criminals and crimes.
The question to ask is; why do the roadblockers defend the criminals? Some of the answers are: because they benefit from the activities of the 'Don' and/or they are afraid of what will happen to them if they do not defend the 'Don'.
Could these be the same reasons our government is behaving like the roadblockers??

Carl Hutchinson
3/7/2010

Golding is trying to see how long he can hold out, hoping that the PNP will return to power soon and extradte that fool. This JLP govt. can't handle a second term because they have fallen apart in the middle of the firs term. Come on short man, pack your bags let's go - Game over partner.

carlos king
3/7/2010

And how long are you (news media) going to allow these political opportunist, these tribalist, these partisan politicians to call the shots? Its clear that they (tribalist politicians) are answerable to only their main constituency- the Don - who ensures they remain in Gordon house. Who is the Jamaicn media answerable to?
Regards,

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What a difference six years make