Portia: Golding can’t stay as PM

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The People’s National Party (PNP) was placed on election alert by its president, Portia Simpson Miller, who suggested that The Sunday Gleaner bombshell, revealing that the Jamaican Government had, in fact, been in bed with a United States law firm, might force the prime minister to quit.Speaking at a constituency conference for South West Clarendon at Kemps Hill High School on Sunday night, Simpson Miller said Prime Minister Bruce Golding was too compromised to remain in office.“Be prepared. Be on standby and listen for the sound of the trumpet,” said the PNP president, drawing on biblical imagery. “Wrong is wrong. I say to the prime minister tonight, enough is enough!”Golding told the country that Manatt, Phelps & Phillips had been retained by the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to lobby the US government on the extradition issue involving alleged drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke. He said he sanctioned the move, but gave instructions that it should not be a government matter.However, emails obtained under the Access to Information Act and published in The Sunday Gleaner indicate that Manatt had acted on the behalf of the Government.Simpson Miller told PNP supporters that when she read yesterday’s (Sunday) newspaper: “Like thousands of Jamaicans, I felt betrayed by the Government of Jamaica.”The PNP attempted to censure Golding for his about-face in Parliament but failed, as the JLP triumphed with its superior numbers as members voted along party lines.Meanwhile, president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Milton Samuda, has reiterated his call for an independent probe of the matter.Samuda told The Gleaner that he was not surprised by the latest revelations about emails outlining the Government’s involvement with Manatt.“I think, publicly, I have warned in the past that failure to deal decisively with full disclosure in relation to this was going to result in facts leaking out over a period of time and causing greater damage to all concerned, including Jamaica,” Samuda said.In April, as the controversy surrounding the Jamaican Government’s involvement with the US-based law firm heightened, Samuda had called for an independent enquiry. (Jamaica Gleaner)