Campbell, PNP showdown looms

Faction wants former MP out, even if DPP clears him

BY HG HELPS Editor-at-Large helpsh@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, September 06, 2010

THE Opposition People's National Party (PNP) and one of its former general secretaries are on a collision course regarding his candidacy in future general elections, according to information reaching the Observer.

Colin Campbell, 56, a two-term member of parliament (MP) who represented the people of Eastern St Andrew between 1993 and 2002, withdrew his application for candidate in the North Central Clarendon seat, now held by veteran Jamaica Labour Party politician Pearnel Charles, just over a week ago.

The move was based upon a recommendation by Contractor General Greg Christie that Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn pursue legal action against Campbell for "obstructing and hindering" Christie's probe into the infamous Trafigura Affair.

According to Christie, Campbell failed, without lawful justification or excuse, to comply with a lawful requirement of the contractor general and thereby obstructed the probe by withholding critical information.

Campbell's lawyer, KD Knight, has dismissed the allegations as baseless.

Campbell has maintained that as soon as the matter is disposed of, should he be cleared by the DPP, he would renew his interest in representing the constituency in the next election, expected by 2012.

But now, Campbell faces another fight, as several key figures in the PNP do not want him to run at all, as they fear that the party could be scarred during the election campaign, and believe further that the ruling Jamaica Labour Party would try to discredit him and the PNP with compelling advertisements reminding potential voters about the Trafigura scandal.

The Trafigura Affair arose from the previous Government's acceptance of a $31-million donation to assist with campaigning for the 2007 general election from the Dutch oil trading firm, Trafigura Beheer, which traded oil for Jamaica on the international market.

Trafigura said the money was part of a commercial agreement, while the PNP maintained that it was a donation to the party.

The ensuing scandal from the transaction damaged the PNP, and Campbell resigned as PNP general secretary and from the Cabinet in which he served as information minister.

The party has since said that it has returned the donation, following widespread criticism.

"Colin cannot run in the next general election. It would hurt the party and the JLP would have a field day, as they would bring up the Trafigura matter over and over again," one senior member of the PNP told the Observer on condition of anonymity.

"The party is faced with a dilemma, because the question of integrity will arise, even if Colin is cleared by the DPP. I do not think that it is wise for us to have him run as a candidate, that is assuming that he is found to be innocent," a veteran party stalwart said.

The matter was the subject of a spirited discussion at one of the party's recent officers meeting.

For Campbell though, he is not perturbed by what people in the party may be saying about his fitness to compete.

"I cannot say what decision the party will take," Campbell told the Observer in an interview.

"I asked the party to do one thing -- to put away my application for candidate at this time. I will put in my application again if I am cleared by the DPP.

"The OCG (Office of the Contractor General) has referred this matter to the DPP and I have put aside my plans for now. I remain the vice chairman of the constituency and my application for the candidate is not to be considered now, until the matter has been disposed of," Campbell said.

PNP chairman Robert Pickersgill said that the party had not taken a decision over whether or not Campbell should re-enter elective politics on its ticket, should he be cleared by the DPP.

"The party has said nothing about the future. We will cross that bridge when we get there," he said.

The veteran politician hinted that some in the party were not in agreement that Campbell should run again.

"I suspect there might be people who would prefer if he did not run. You see, very few candidates receive 100 per cent approval. It is quite a process and persons are allowed the opportunity to voice their approval or disapproval," said Pickersgill.

"A day in politics is a long time, but that would be a matter for when we reach that bridge," Pickersgill added.

Campbell, who worked at the now defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) as a journalist during the 1970s, started his public relations and advertising consultancy firm soon after he, along with other workers at JBC, won a case for wrongful dismissal, following the change of Government in 1980.

He won his first election in 1993, beating heavyweight Ed Bartlett in Eastern St Andrew, and later sent Dr Percival Broderick into retirement in the 1997 election in the same constituency.

He lost narrowly to Bartlett's younger brother, Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, a noted veterinary surgeon, in the 2002 poll and did not contest the general election of 2007, opting to work from the Senate instead, from which he was appointed minister of information and development, until the Trafigura saga erupted.

In his public statement issued August 25, Campbell said that he withdrew on a matter of principle.

"Members of the public will recall that the then leader of the Opposition, now Prime Minister Bruce Golding, had called for the resignation of the then Government when he made his utterances about Trafigura," Campbell said in his statement.

"I was at that time the general secretary of the People's National Party and minister of information. I stated then, and hold fast to that position still, that I had done nothing corrupt.

"However, since I was the accountable functionary in the PNP, I accepted responsibility and resigned from both the party and government positions. I thought it was the right thing to have done and did it.

"With the passage of time, I contemplated re-entering elective politics and offered myself as a candidate in the constituency of North Central Clarendon.

"The contractor general has accused me of not having given him all the information he required and he has submitted this to the director of public prosecutions to determine if the Contractor General Act has been breached. Whilst I know that I have committed no breach, the fact is that the process continues, even though in his investigation he found no corrupt act on my part.

"In the circumstances, I have decided that I will not offer myself as a candidate at this time as I await the decision of the director of public prosecutions. Again, I think this is the right thing to do," Campbell said in his statement.

Campbell, who is regarded by some in the PNP as having sharp organisational skills, had been working on cementing his base in the constituency and had even found several distant relatives living there.

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