Holness should have fired Hutchinson

If Prime Minister Andrew Holness had made one straightforward move last week, he would have confirmed his third term as leader of this country when the next general election is held within months.

He could still do so. But the process now becomes a little harder. Holness, instead of shifting JC Hutchinson to the Office of the Prime Minister where he can keep a closer eye on him, should have done the logical thing by firing him and banishing Hutchinson to his St Elizabeth North Western seat where he could decide whether or not he faces the electorate for a final time.

Hutchinson did a bag of foolishness in the matter involving his female companion, and son in the Holland sugar land saga.

I don’t know what the fascination about Hutchinson is, apart from his strong support of Holness in the party’s last leadership contest. He comes across as someone who is clearly at war with public sector management procedures, and this is strange for a man who grew up as a privileged black, who first attended Knox College, and left for Munro in Potsdam, St Elizabeth, where he also represented the school in daCosta Cup football and other sports, before moving on to the famed Cornell University in the United States, which has a reputation for its superior agriculture teachings.

Hutchinson behaves like a man who didn’t even attend basic school… just listen to him. His stewardship in his constituency is nothing to shout about. He was lost at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries and could not be looked upon to think outside the ‘box’ and come with solutions to Jamaica’s food challenges. I wonder if that’s why the relationship between himself and the other main man in the ministry, Audley Shaw, was like, to borrow a term from the Jamaican book of popular phrases, ‘puss and dawg’…hardly ever civil.

Holness should realise by now that an individual like JC Hutchinson has little to contribute to the Jamaica that we dream of. He has no business being in the Cabinet. It was in fact a lost opportunity for the prime minister to act decisively, because had he done so, he would have earned the respect of so many. The ball was dropped.

The Wright and wrong of sugar land deal

Last week the nation was bombarded by claims and counterclaims in an endless sour match between Sugar Company of Jamaica Holdings (SCJH) and Member of Parliament for Trelawny Northern Victor Wright.

On the surface, it appears that when Prime Minister Holness announced that a certain MP was in effect squatting on Government land and a house last Sunday during a Jamaica Labour Party meeting, it was a hit-back for what happened to JC Hutchinson’s mix-up and blender at Holland Estates in St Elizabeth.

But lots of information flowed during the week, resulting in moves now being made to file a claim in the Supreme Court for the State to take control of the Frome, Westmoreland property where Wright worked as operations manager before he entered elective politics in 2016.

The SCJH says Wright still owes under $3 million in electricity bills, but Wright disputes this, saying the SCJH owes him just under $19,000. Who are we to believe?

Something is not adding up. I know that operatives of the SCJH are adamant that Wright messed up and should be tossed out of the property. At the same time, some of what Wright has put forward as evidence raises questions in respect of how the SCJH has handled the matter.

Wright has some serious issues to deal with in his constituency, among them resentment by some members of the party’s hierarchy that he is ineffective as MP and should be replaced; and utterances by a certain influential People’s National Party (PNP) contractor about his manner of leadership which has resulted in him now supporting the Jamaica Labour Party candidate.

But partisan politics is also at the root of this latest land matter, which must be resolved with alacrity. The same SCJH has sold, or is in the process of selling, real estate to people who have never worked at Frome, or in the sugar industry, so that’s another issue.

Freeing five men and a failed SOE

When the Supreme Court freed five men who had been unconstitutionally locked up for over a year without charge, it exposed the slop in the justice system that needs to be looked after before it becomes unmanageable.

The state of emergency seems to be the Government’s live-in helper whom it uses to mop up extraneous matter in the yard, without putting a system in place for that material to be disposed of adequately.

Attorneys-at-law Isat Buchanan and John Clarke spoke elegantly about what some of us have been saying all along that you, as the State, cannot just get up and detain individuals suspected of doing wrong, throw them in filthy cells bolstered by inhumane conditions, without charging them. It is, simply, not right.

I’m told of a situation whereby a man is involved in a relationship with a woman who is liked by a policeman. The man was held by a team of policemen, which includes the policeman who is fond of the woman in question. He was locked up and is still being held for months. You cannot convince the man’s family that he was not detained because the policeman was going after his woman.

You are talking about 24-hour lockdown in a cell in inhumane and unsanitary conditions. Apart from the fact that detainees could be honest, hard-working individuals whose financial earnings would be thrown in disarray, they are bound to suffer from mental deficiencies during the lock away period.

The custom is for the security personnel to target poor people too, mainly from inner-city communities.

Lawyers should fight to have the police release people who are detained if they are not charged with an offence after a week. I do not believe in a system whereby you detain someone indefinitely and then you investigate. It could happen to me… worse, if I am not liked by a policeman, or involved in a relationship with a woman who is also being eyed by members of the security forces.

Interestingly, the so-called attorney general has criticised the Supreme Court judge’s decision. Should anyone be surprised? And will anyone be further surprised that Prime Minister Holness will keep her in the job?

I also note that the Opposition People’s National Party has condemned the long detention of suspects. But, remind me… which party voted with the Government in the House of Representatives last week for the SOE to be extended?

The SOE, as we have been witnessing, serves no useful purpose.

That JOA jumpy salary bill

The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) , for long the darling of sports organisations in this country (and it could still be), mounted a media campaign recently to assure the public that it is acting above board in all its dealings.

The JOA has stated its increased financial support for member associations, and nothing is wrong with that. But what is glaring is the hiked salary bill, which jumped from $9.7 million in 2017 to $34.4 million — over 300 per cent — in 2018. We are in 2020, so the numbers could even be higher.

The details have not been stated, but could the JOA answer yes or no to the suggestion that Chief Executive Officer Ryan Foster is now getting $22 million in annual salary and emoluments? If the answer is ‘no’, maybe the JOA, as it claims to be transparent, could say what that salary package is.

The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) , for long the darling of sports organisations in this country (and it could still be), mounted a media campaign recently to assure the public that it is acting above board in all its dealings.

The JOA has stated its increased financial support for member associations, and nothing is wrong with that. But what is glaring is the hiked salary bill, which jumped from $9.7 million in 2017 to $34.4 million — over 300 per cent — in 2018. We are in 2020, so the numbers could even be higher.

The details have not been stated, but could the JOA answer yes or no to the suggestion that Chief Executive Officer Ryan Foster is now getting $22 million in annual salary and emoluments? If the answer is ‘no’, maybe the JOA, as it claims to be transparent, could say what that salary package is.