IN a recent post on his social media platforms, sharing an extract from his political speech in Cross Roads during the 2025 General Election campaign, Mark Golding painted a vision of a Jamaica where the “bulldozers” are replaced by “builders” and where 50,000 affordable homes would be delivered to the people. He spoke passionately about “dignity”, “compassion”, and “security” for those facing eviction. It is a powerful narrative, if only the Mark Golding of today weren’t haunted by the lawsuit, legal documents, and his own pronouncements from 2001.

Before the public accepts Mr Golding as the saviour of the “socially deprived”, we must look back at the case of University of the West Indies v The Mona Rehabilitation Foundation. In that legal battle Golding, acting as chairman of the foundation, didn’t just stand by while affordable housing was about to be built for squatters; he actively sued to stop it.

The hypocrisy is staggering. In 2001 he sought an injunction to prevent the Government from relocating squatters from Mona Common into a formal, organised housing development of 140 to 144 apartments. He didn’t want these citizens — the very same people he now claims to fight for — anywhere near his doorstep.

In his own affidavit Golding’s rhetoric wasn’t about “dignity”; it was about nuisance and prejudice. He argued that the relocation of these people who live in “socially deprived” conditions would bring a “concentration of humanity” characterised by “high noise levels from sound systems”.

This was two decades before Golding had ambitions of high political office and was content as a lawyer, investment banker, and foundation chairman. He went further, casting a shadow of criminality over the entire community, claiming they “harbour a significant criminal element” that would “prey” on the businesses of the disabled.

Where was the “compassion” then? Where was the “vision” for land and a home when he was legally fighting to ensure these residents were restrained from being housed within 400 to 600 metres of the rehabilitation centre?

The double-mindedness has only intensified with time. In 2022, while visiting informal settlers in Brighton, Westmoreland, Golding declared, “the Government cannot abandon you”, and insisted that the interests of one person or family cannot overcome the rights of the many. Yet, 26 years ago he argued that the mere “prospect of the relocation” of squatters was enough to cause “extreme anxiety and fear” for his foundation. He successfully argued for an injunction that stood in the way of a project meant to upgrade the lives of over 100 families.

We must remember that the land being used for this project was not even his. It was the “laundry land” adjacent to his foundation that he simply didn’t want the “socially deprived” to occupy.

Even more telling is Golding’s selective support for residents. In 2020 he toured Weise Road in Bull Bay and argued against relocation by stating, “this is a well-established community, they are not little squatter dwellings”. This dismissive language regarding “little squatter dwellings” suggests that his “compassion” is reserved for those he deems socially acceptable, rather than the truly vulnerable dwellers of places like Mona Common whom he once branded as a criminal threat.

As a Jamaican, I must ask the question: Which Mark Golding are we to believe? The one who stands in Cross Roads promising 50,000 homes, or the one who sued in the Court of Appeal to ensure 144 homes were never built for the squatters of Mona Common?

Until Mr Golding reconciles his past actions with his current rhetoric his credibility on affordable housing remains as thin as the paper his 2001 affidavit was written on. You cannot claim to be the builder of a nation when you were once the primary architect of the barriers against its most vulnerable citizens.

Daryl Vaz is the minister of energy, telecommunications and transport, a senior member of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for Portland Western since 2007.