KINGSTON, Jamaica — The People’s National Party (PNP) has rejected the decision by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to relieve Dr Andrew Wheatley of a portion of his ministerial portfolio referring to the move as a smokescreen to quell the public outcry against the litany of allegations of corruption which have engulfed the State-owned oil refinery, PetroJam.

Wheatley, who was the Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, was stripped of the energy portfolio yesterday which has been transferred to the Office of The Prime Minister (OPM) and is to retain the Science and Technology portfolios.

In a statement last night following the weekly meeting of the party’s executive committee, the PNP’s General Secretary, Julian Robinson said the action by Holness is too little, too late and that Wheatley, who agreed to the prime minister’s gentle slap on the wrist, should be relieved immediately of his entire portfolio as a first step in restoring public confidence in the country’s governance administration.

He said the party repudiated the attempt by the prime minister to “hoodwink the nation into believing that he has disciplined Wheatley by firing him from the Energy portfolio. “

Robinson said all well-thinking Jamaicans who expect the country to uphold its tradition of transparency, openness, probity and accountability in governance, should reject the gimmick announced by the prime minister.

He stressed that Holness needed to explain why Wheatley was fit and proper for Cabinet responsibility for science and technology and not for energy.

How can one explain losing confidence in part of an individual while maintaining the other part of the same individual in high esteem? Robinson asked.

“The public could draw only one conclusion and it was that Dr Wheatley had committed grave infractions which excluded him from Energy, but the prime minister, hiding behind the Cabinet, is too weak and has no stomach to do the right thing by firing him entirely,” the general secretary said.