Speaker Michael Peart has written his 59 colleagues in the House of Representatives demanding that they improve their behaviour during sittings of the House.

The Speaker seemed concerned that the continued cross-talk between both sides could lead to a further breakdown in discipline, especially considering that general elections are likely to be held this year.

However, it is very unlikely that the Speaker will get much response from the members during the current season. In fact, most MPs I asked about the letter remembered receiving it, but couldn’t recall the content. After all, we are only about six weeks away from the tabling of the budget.

Where the Speaker should get some immediate attention is in terms of a letter circulated to members of the media demanding that they improve on their attire in the House.

The Speaker is concerned that the media has been failing to meet the requirement of dressing “businesslike” and has warned about the need to do so.

. The issue of reparations was introduced to the House of Representatives last week by Opposition MP Mike Henry, with his Private Member’s Motion (PMM) calling for the establishment of a “united and common position” in support of reparations for descendants of African slaves.

Debate on the motion is quite timely. It comes at the start of the bicentennial of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans to the Caribbean, and actually started on Bob Marley’s birthday, February 6.

Henry’s motion calls on the House to:

. debate the proposition that reparation is due to the countries which are home to the “displaced descendants”;

. establish a committee to quantify the reparation; and

. call upon nations due to make reparations to provide compensation “by way of cash and/or debt relief”.

Apart from Henry, his Opposition colleague, Shahine Robinson (North-east St Ann) and junior minister Victor Cummings supported the bill. The debate will continue on Tuesday.

. The Public Accounts Committee will meet on Tuesday at 10:00 am with the Gorstew team, led by Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart scheduled to return.

The House will meet on Tuesday, starting at 2:00 pm.

The Joint Select Committee studying the proposed amendments to the Offences Against the Person and the Incest (Punishment) acts will meet on Wednesday.

The Senate will not sit again until February 22.

New dates are to be set for meetings of the Select Committee on Air Jamaica and the Ethics Committee, whose recent meetings have been postponed.

Golding puts Trafigura back on House agenda

Leader of the Opposition, Bruce Golding, has placed the controversial Trafigura issue back on the parliamentary agenda, through a series of questions tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The questions seek responses from Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller on several issues linked to the Trafigura scandal, including: whether the assurance that the $31 million from the company would be returned has been met? Whether any documentation has been seen establishing that the money was a commercial agreement? And was the agreement connected to Trafigura’s increasing interest in Jamaican bauxite to meet the needs of its plant in North Carolina, USA.

The scandal surrounds a donation of $31 million made to the PNP, just prior to that party’s annual conference in September, by Dutch oil trading firm Trafigura Beheer, which is contracted by the Government to lift and sell Nigerian crude for Jamaica on the international market.

The JLP has already asked the Dutch Government to investigate possible breaches of Dutch provisions regarding contributions by private firms to foreign political parties, as well as Trafigura’s relationship with the PNP.

The full text of Golding’s questions reads as follows:

(1) Does the prime minister recall a statement issued by Trafigura Beheer on October 6, 2006 that, as part of the development of its business in Jamaica, it had “a commercial agreement with CCOC Associates”, of which Mr Colin Campbell, then a member of her Cabinet, was a principal and that payments by Trafigura to “CCOC Association” were made under that agreement?

(2) Was this commercial agreement signed by Mr Campbell?

(3) Has the prime minister seen any documentation establishing this commercial agreement?

(4) Has the prime minister ascertained the nature of this agreement and will she provide details thereof to this Honourable House?

(5) Has the prime minister determined whether this agreement constitutes a genuine contract, expected by both parties to be performed, or was merely a contrivance to facilitate a donation to the People’s National Party and to conceal it from regulatory authorities?

(6) Is the prime minister aware that Century Aluminium Company, a subsidiary of Glencore International, owns 50 per cent of St Ann Bauxite Limited, which is licensed by the Government of Jamaica to mine up to 4.5 million metric tons of bauxite per annum?

(7) Is the prime minister aware that on March 8, 2006, Trafigura entered into a contract with Century Aluminium Company to supply 125,000 metric tons of alumina per annum commencing January 2007 and increasing to 220,000 metric tons per annum after January 2008 in order to meet the needs of its aluminium plant in Mt Holly, North Carolina, USA?

(8) Was the commercial agreement between Trafigura and CCOC Association purported to be connected to Trafigura’s contractual obligations to Century Aluminium?

(9) Has the Government sought to have any discussions with Trafigura since the issue became public to resolve the conflict between the claim by various members of the Government that the payment to CCOC Association was a donation to the PNP, and the contention of Trafigura that it was in pursuance of a commercial agreement between itself and CCOC Association? If so, who was involved in and what were the nature and outcome of these discussions?

(10) Does the prime minister recall stating publicly that she had instructed that the payment to CCOC Association be returned to Trafigura?

(11) What is the basis on which these instructions were issued?

(12) Have the prime minister’s instructions been carried out? If so, when? If not, why not?

Clarke says SCJ has already received money from PetroCaribe Fund

The Government has already disbursed US$44 million (J$2.2 billion) of the funds realised from the PetroCaribe oil agreement with Venezuela to the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ).

This was revealed by minister of agriculture Roger Clarke to the House of Representatives on Tuesday in response to questions from Opposition MP and spokesman on works Pearnel Charles.

Charles: Will the minister state whether the loan of J$2.2 billion sourced from the PetroCaribe Fund to the Sugar Company of Jamaica has been disbursed?

Clarke: Yes. The Ministry of Finance and Planning has disbursed US$44 million from the PetroCaribe Fund to the SCJ.

Charles: Will the minister outline the uses to which those funds are to be applied?

Clarke: Partial restructuring of the SCJ’s debt with the elimination of the overdraft being carried by the company with the NCB.

Provision of support for the operations of the SCJ Limited and its affiliated companies – St Thomas and Trelawny Sugar Companies – during the 2007 pre-crop period includes the purchase of equipment and material for the off-crop repair programme for the factories and the purchase and repair of equipment used on the sugar cane plantations. Funds acquired also facilitated payment of creditors and the servicing of existing long-term debt.

Charles: Will the minister state how much of these funds have been spent on repairs/retooling of each of the sugar factories controlled by the SCJ?

Clarke: Funds from the PetroCaribe loan provided means by which SCJ undertook out-of-crop maintenance and preparation for the 2006/2007 crop.

Funds were used for the provision of support for operations at Frome, Monymusk, Bernard Lodge and St Thomas sugar companies. Expenditure by the five factories for the period – September 2006 to December 2006 – amounted to J$764 million. The breakdown among factories is as follows:

Frome, $256 million; Monymusk, $173 million; Bernard Lodge, $202 million; St Thomas Sugar, $64 million; and Trelawny Sugar, $69 million.