Opposition calls for Brady's resignation

BY MARK CUMMINGS Observer senior reporter cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, March 29, 2010

MONTEGO BAY, St James -- The Opposition People's National Party (PNP) yesterday called for the resignation of attorney Harold Brady from all state boards, until the party gets a satisfactory explanation from the Government regarding his involvement with the American law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

"We are demanding, until then, that Mr Brady be relieved of all his responsibilities and from membership of all boards," PNP president Portia Simpson Miller said.

At the same time, she said, the party was calling on the General Legal Counsel to investigate and to determinate whether Mr Brady's actions constituted a breach of ethics of the legal profession warranting disciplinary action.

Simpson Miller, who was speaking at a meeting of the party's National Executive Council (NEC) at the Wexford Hotel in Montego Bay, said the Government was yet to "come clean" on Brady's involvement with the law firm.

Opposition member Dr Peter Phillips had raised questions in the House of Parliament about whether the Government had engaged the services of the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to deal with extradition or other matters between the US and Jamaica.

But Prime Minister Bruce Golding has maintained that the Government has no arrangement with the US law firm.

And Brady has denied that he acted on behalf of Government in dealings with the company.

But at a press conference last Wednesday, the Opposition asked the Government a raft of questions regarding its dealings with the firm.

Among them was: On what basis did the solicitor general (Douglas Leys) believe it was appropriate for private foreign citizens -- in the persons of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips -- to be involved in a meeting between the Government of Jamaica and the Government of the United States discussing sensitive and confidential matters?

Yesterday, Simpson Miller told the NEC that since the issue was raised by the PNP, explanations on the matter had been "found wanting", while the prime minister's intervention lacked credibility, and raised "more questions than answers".

She added that the solicitor general's "position" had been "seriously compromised" since he allowed representatives of the law firm to sit in on the discussions with the United States State Department.

"We are therefore demanding that the country be clearly and truthfully told the position on the matter, and that the Government comes clean. The people are demanding that," Simpson Miller told the cheering NEC members.

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COMMENTS (14)

T G
3/29/2010

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Dennis Johnson
3/29/2010
Paul Lewis - Do you ever think some of those videos are "manufactured" stories and edited for their purpose?
Is there any place on earth you know that don't have poor people?
/_/_/_/
Are you serious?
I know Payne Land, Majesty Gardens, BackTo and most of Sistah P's Constituency, trust me it at least three times worse than what has been put out in public.
Not only that we are and have been the murder capital of the world with a destroyed economy there is no need to massage the evidence.
....TG....

Dennis Johnson
3/29/2010

Paul Lewis - Do you ever think some of those videos are "manufactured" stories and edited for their purpose?
Is there any place on earth you know that don't have poor people?

Hope Alive
3/29/2010

@ Nicholas Henry: Not because you cannot find it does not mean its not there. I have found it and others have. Go and do you homework. I will not be spoon fed!

Wayne L
3/29/2010

Portia Miller has absolutely no moral ground to ask anyone to resign when she harbors somone who is on trial for defrauding the government in her party. I wish we could change the faces of these political party. She is the leader of one of the biggest slum in Ja and she has been there for almost her entire life. No wonder they don't want those who have moved away to return and participate in the running of the country.

we need help too
3/29/2010

I live for the day when someone from 'above the clock' will be held accountable for wrongs done to this country.
Accountability is only for those of us from the 'ghetto'.

T G
3/29/2010

Yep he should resign!
....TG....

Richard Edwards
3/29/2010

Brady, is the least of Jamaica's worries, I can think of tel politicians who need to resign immediatelu. Mr Collateral Damage, heads my list, followed by Mr Rudyard Spencer , Minister of Health. In any event the PNP has the temerity to be asking anyone to resign, I wish they all would go and just let that country breathe, they have stiffled that country for so long, one wonders how much onger the country can hold out before it reaches critical mass, I sure we are not too far from being there.
Richard Edwards. New York City
Betterlifeforjamaicans@yahoo.com

Nicolas Henry
3/29/2010

HE HAAYA, POT A CUSS KETTLE SEH IT BLACK. The only country in the world that elected sitting parlimentarians can sit in power and legislate laws including criminal laws, while they themselves are being prosecuted for a criminal offence. KERN SPENCER ME A TALK BOUT. HOWEVER HIM CONSTITUENTS STILL SUPPORTING HIM 100% ACCORDING TO THEIR POLLS. IT SEEM LIKE MANY JAMAICAN PEOPLE ARE MASOCHIST. I searched everywhere on the U.S.A Justice Dept website and i can't find this information. How did Mr. Peter Phillips find it? When are things going to really change in Jamaica for the better?

nervous investor
3/29/2010

For the first time I might actually agree with Mrs Simpson Miller. Mr Brady should step down from all Government appointed positions immediately. If and when he is cleared of wrong doing then will be full time for him to resurface. Of course I have to disagree with the way Mrs Simpson Miller framed the statement since the Government is not accountable to the PNP "party", it is accountable to the Jamaican people. We are not yet a Communist state.

Paul Lewis
3/29/2010

She should be the last one to say anything, as if her party is a shining example of honesty and virtue. I realise that development of a country takes time, but following the advice of several readers here yesterday, I went on You Tube. I have always been a proud Jamaican, however what I saw made me so ashamed, not only of my Country, but of my people. There posted for the world to see, was some of the most disgusting, humiliating and depraved images of Jamaica, I have ever seen. I am not saying we should cover up the warts on our society, because we know they are a reality. The question is, where are we in our development ?. The Internet allows not only the Jamaica, the Tourist Board wishes to be seen, but the parts and people they hope would not. I started by looking at the ex P.M.'s constituency, then went on to other videos exposing our Polce practices, Gang problems, living conditions and also the primitive Dancehall culture. If the people are willing to put up with this, as been what they expect of their Politicians, Police and so called Artistes, then we are certainly headed backwards. I have seen extreme poverty, disgusting social behaviour and moral decay, but to see it been accepted so readily is astounding. Many Jamaicans know this as their reality so its no big deal " a wha mek im a waan so ". Visiting home, we are told to not venture into some areas, but my God. Even here, I have to wonder where in Jamaica these people come from, I wonder no more. If all Jamaicans see these videos, I am sure they could not be so proud. Reality has a way of shocking you into consciousness. I pray for my people and country.

anguish of being
3/29/2010

Eddie gave a boy to do a man's job.

JA Cynic
3/29/2010

The PNP is wasting its time calling for Brady's resignation from state boards.What is clear is that criminal acts have been done.Persons must be held accountable for their actions.
We have to be wary of piece-meal measures aimed at "cooling" the situation.
This Brady Factor took place under the portfolio of the AG & Minister of Justice. The SG played a role.
Both should do the "honourable thing" and resign thus taking full responsibility for acts of ommission or commission under their portfolio duties.
JA Cynic

josh davis
3/29/2010

well,according to the gleaner yesterday mr,.leys change him mind again about when the meeting took place..him say him and brady met in september not december..i wonder if mr.leys would know what is todays date?
serus thing man..if him can mix up december wid september,him nuh might thinks it's now june?lol

Jay Brown
3/29/2010

Hello , Where is Kern Spencer ??
Is he still a MP and if so why?
Waiting on the NEC for a response.
Its one of the reasons I despise Jamaican politicians - no class.

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