Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

THE ODOUR of corruption which stained the air around the People's National Party (PNP), while it was in government, has seemingly followed the party into opposition.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the PNP in Parliament on Tuesday that it cannot accuse anyone of corruption, at least not for now.

"It will be a long time before those on that side can regain the moral authority to accuse anyone of corruption," Golding said, as he pointed across the aisle.

Robert Pickersgill, chairman of the PNP, believes the prime minister is out of order and does not have the luxury of making such a statement.

"He is from a party that has a history of thievery and skulduggery, and as the leader of that party, he is the last man to point fingers," Pickersgill retorted.

The PNP had earlier accused the prime minister of nepotism and corruption in the Ferry land deal, which effectively saved the Hydel Group of Schools from being displaced.

Moral authority

Hydel is owned by Government Senator Hyacinth Bennett, a long-time ally of Golding. The school was facing eviction because the lands on which it sits had been offered for sale. The Urban Development Corporation (UDC), which reports to the prime minister, bought the six-and-a-half-acre property and is preparing to lease it to Hydel.

Golding stoutly defended his actions and said that he had come to the rescue of the nation's children.

Political commentator Kevin O'Brien Chang, however, has rebutted Golding's no "moral authority" statement, charging that two wrongs do not make a right.

"You cannot say that because someone did wrong, they cannot accuse you of doing wrong," O'Brien Chang reasoned.

The PNP was accused of wrongdoing on many occasions during its more than 18-year hold on state power.

PNP President Portia Simpson Miller, who was displeased by Golding's statement, said every government faces the challenge of people who would want to bend the rules.

"Do you think that there is any government in power anywhere that somebody is not going to do something that even him (Golding) the prime minister, or any prime minister at all, would not subscribe to and would be very angry if it was brought to your attention?" asked Simpson Miller.

Obviously angered by Golding's barb, Simpson Miller said the prime minister was rude in attacking the integrity of opposition members.

"I have credibility. I am not a thief. He is talking about people trying to destroy his own integrity while he is trying to destroy everybody's integrity in the Opposition," Simpson Miller remarked.

Four Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members of parliament (MPs), Lewis, Malcolm, Symonds and Smith, have served prison terms.

"None of our ministers has worn short pants, except on the beach," Pickersgill stated.

He is mindful, however, that one of his former state ministers, Kern Spencer, is facing the court on criminal charges arising out of the Cuban light-bulb project.

"I know perception in politics is a very powerful thing, but time will tell," said Pickersgill.

But Colin Virgo, general secretary of Generation 2000 (G2K), the youth arm of the JLP, believes the prime minister had to put the PNP in its place.

"Very few persons in that party may have the moral authority to speak about corruption. " Virgo said.

According to Virgo, "Everybody (in the PNP) toes the party line and closes ranks around what is happening."

Virgo points to the Trafigura affair as an example. The PNP accepted $35 million from Dutch firm Trafigura, which was contracted to trade Nigerian oil on the country's behalf. The JLP has called it a scandal, suggesting it was a kick-back to enable Trafigura to keep the contract.

That so-called scandal led to the resignation of Colin Campbell as minister of information and development and party general secretary, but the PNP has maintained that no hanky-panky was involved.

frank discussion

University of the West Indies lecturer Richard Crawford believes the PNP will not shake the corruption monkey from its back until it it has a frank discussion with Jamaicans.

"When the PNP left office, the charge of corruption was foremost in the voters' minds," Crawford told The Sunday Gleaner.

"I think that it is incumbent on them to have a full and frank discussion with the people of Jamaica. They must come clean and put the cards on the table," Crawford argued.

"I think the electorate is sophisticated enough today to be willing to listen to reasoned and concrete arguments devoid of political spin," he added.

Pickersgill said that this frank discussion with Jamaicans was something the party would be willing to do.

"We would have no problem with that. The PNP has nothing to hide," Pickersgill said, while accusing the JLP of "doing everything to tarnish the PNP's image".

Crawford insists that the PNP must move quickly to regain the confidence of the Jamaican people if it is to get rid of the corruption taint.

"The longer the PNP stays away from clarifying and clearing its name and period in office, the longer the prime minister would be able to make those charges," Crawford added.

But while the PNP struggles to bury its burden, commentators say the JLP must operate an open government or it may suffer a similar fate.

O'Brien Chang reasons that Golding should recognise that he has asked Jamaicans to hold him to a higher standard.

Said O'Brien Chang: "You said you would have been transparent and accountable, and those should be the morals and yardstick you use, not what the PNP did."

Golding promised transparency and accountability when he broke away from the JLP in 1995 to form the National Democratic Movement.

Less than transparent

When he returned and then assumed leadership of the JLP, he campaigned on the same platform, pledging to Jamaicans that he would be new and different.

O'Brien Chang charges that Golding has been less than transparent in relation to what caused him to ask the entire board of the Urban Development Corporation to resign.

Golding has said that "deep divisions" among members of the board of the UDC led to his request for their resignations.

"I considered this action necessary and appropriate as a result of deep divisions that had developed among the members of the board and the dysfunctional effect they were having on the management and operation of the corporation," he said in a statement to Parliament.

The Opposition, like O'Brien Chang and Crawford, has deemed the response inadequate.

The PNP has questioned whether the request for the resignation is linked to the controversial Ferry land purchase by the UDC.

For Crawford, the present government is involved in matters that are similar to what they accused the PNP of doing when that party was in office and that is eroding its credibility.

Similarly, O'Brien Chang says that unless Golding is willing to hold the JLP to a higher standard, "then give them enough time and they will hang themselves, too".

- daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com

Scandals

Among the alleged scandals and controversies to have dogged the PNP were Sandals Whitehouse, the furniture scandal, the Shell waiver deal, the Cuban light bulb affair, Netserv, Trafigura, billions of dollars being unaccounted for in the NHDC/Operation PRIDE programme.