Linton P. Gordon
The allegations that members of the People’s National Party (PNP), including then members of parliament (MPs) and candidates for membership in parliament received funds that were to be placed in the coffers of the Party for use in political campaign and converted these funds to their own use is not a private matter to be kept secret within the PNP.
While it is true that the PNP is somewhat a private organization with members entitled to have matters of a confidential nature kept out of the public domain, acts of fraud and theft within the party are of fundamental interest to the public, for the simple reason that the PNP is a party that has provided the Government for this country and is seeking to again provide the Government for the country.
Of greater significance is the grave possibility that if funds were misappropriated, the act could have been, as is being alleged, committed by either sitting MPs or those aspiring so to be. The people of Jamaica need to be assured that persons who offer themselves to be political representatives, especially for our Parliament, are persons of honour, probity, honesty and trust.
This being the case, the PNP needs to act with dispatch in investigating the allegation of misappropriation of campaign contribution. The party should expose those who are involved, if anyone is involved, and should forthwith sever all links from such persons as part of a process of rebuilding confidence and trust in the party. Any effort to cover up or to sweep these allegations under the carpet should be seen as an indication that the PNP is prepared to tolerate persons in its rank and leadership who are not trustworthy and who are unsuitable to sit in the Parliament of Jamaica.
The sums of money that are being bandied about as stolen are not small and therefore it should not be difficult to trace them from source to where they went. This is so especially for the funds that are said to be US currency.
The PNP is a well-recognized and well established institution in Jamaica. It has membership from a wide cross section of Jamaicans. Those in the party who believe in honour, trust and probity should step forward and insist that there be no cover up where this matter is concerned. If members of the party indulged in wilful blindness they should also shoulder the blame for what will most likely be a period of decline of the PNP as its credibility is shattered by allegations of corruption and cover up.
Above all it is in the interest of Jamaica that the PNP remains as a credible and viable alternative to the JLP. This is in the interest of our democratic tradition. The PNP is needed to form a responsible and functional Opposition in our Parliament.
We therefore should all demand that the leadership of the PNP, beginning with the Most Honourable Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller, be open and frank to the people of Jamaica, firstly as to what occurred where fraud and theft are alleged and secondly all the disciplinary steps that are taken to sever the recalcitrants from the PNP.
