Tufton says tape with KD Knight is 100% genuine and not doctored
Accuses Knight of a weak attempt to rewrite history
Jamaica Labour Party Campaign Committee Chairman, Dr. Christopher Tufton, categorically rejects KD Knight’s claim that a recording played at a recent Mass Rally which featured Knight saying Mark Golding should never be Prime Minister of Jamaica is fake, doctored, or altered.
Dr. Tufton stated:
“The tape is 100% genuine. I understand Mr. Knight’s embarrassment at the comment he made, but his claim that it was altered is blatantly false. If he wishes to pretend he never said it, that’s on him, but the facts are clear. His words are entirely consistent with sharp criticisms he has previously made of Mark Golding in the public domain.”
On September 3, 2019, Knight was quoted extensively in the national press, blasting Golding, then Chair of the PNP’s Rise United Campaign, for announcing an endowment fund.
Describing Golding’s conduct as “suspicious” and “despicable,” Knight said:
“This suspicious fundraising scheme is not a PNP initiative as it has not been sanctioned by the Party’s annual conference, NEC nor the Executive Committee. The announcement, at this time, is not coincidental and it is a brazen attempt to use cash inducements to influence delegates in the presidential election. Rise United is trading on the economic needs of comrades and it is a despicable attempt to use money to grab power, which has never been a part of the internal PNP democracy.”
This is just one of numerous occasions where senior PNP members have publicly shared their honest opinions on Mark Golding’s leadership, and Knight’s own words are among the most damning.
Knight further called for an investigation, accused Golding of “importing alien behaviour into the PNP,” and pointed out that Golding had given up the treasury role on the grounds that he was “not good at fund raising,” yet was “spearheading an unauthorised fund raising scheme with the sole purpose of influencing votes.”
Dr. Tufton noted that these comments are part of a well-documented pattern of senior PNP figures openly questioning both Mark Golding’s and Peter Bunting’s suitability for leadership.
Dr. Tufton concluded:
“I will not be intimidated by Knight’s denial. His own mouth has packed his bags for him. Time come for him to go. He should avoid the very habit he once warned against – being pathologically mendacious – and leave the scene quietly and with some dignity.”