Johnson Smith: PNP’s only path to power is to tarnish reputation of PM Holness
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith says the People’s National Party’s (PNP) only path to power is by attempting to tarnish the reputation of Prime Minister Andrew Holness and other government officials.
She was responding to a question posed to the JLP’s debate team by the PNP’s Sophia Frazer-Binns on Holness’ statutory declarations and his suitability to run in the upcoming General Election, given issues relative to the prime minister’s financial affairs and the Integrity Commission (IC).
“The PNP, we understand, has no answer to the plans, the programmes, and the achievements of the Jamaica Labour Party. They see their only path to Jamaica House by trying to destroy the reputation of the prime minister of Jamaica and others,” declared Johnson Smith at Saturday night’s election debates.
The minister noted that the JLP has been the political party that has “done more for the integrity and anti-corruption in this country than any other administration”.
In contrast, Johnson Smith said that under past PNP administrations, “every day, every week, you woke up to a new scandal – (Cuban) light bulb, NSWMA, Manchester Parish Council (Municipal Corporation fraud scandal), Hanover (Municipal Corporation), (and) KSAMC.”
She added: “It was under the PNP that Jamaica had the lowest scores under the corruption perception index, and it is under the Jamaica Labour Party that Jamaica has had the highest.
“Why? Because the independent international experts actually look at the facts and not the steady drum beats of the PNP misinformation and weaponisation of processes.”
Returning to the issue relative to the prime minister’s finances, Johnson Smith insisted that, “There is no report that has found any finding of guilt or illegality on the part of the prime minister.
“There is no finding against the prime minister, and the PNP needs to stop telling the lie of 28 bank accounts; it is simply not true,” she stated.
Several members of the PNP have insisted that the prime minister has that many bank accounts, but the claims have been refuted by members of the governing JLP.
In aspects of his rebuttal, the PNP’s Raymond Pryce said it was “odd” that Johnson Smith would suggest that the number of bank accounts was not true.
“The other things you say about doing the most for the integrity framework, that includes being the only prime minister to have taken the Integrity Commission to court, to quash a clause he once bragged that he included as chairman of Cabinet. So the lies are on that side. Aren’t they?” Pryce quipped.
