Thwaites out of Central Kingston selections
DEACON Ronnie Thwaites, lawyer, radio talk show host, and former member of parliament for Central Kingston, was not, as anticipated, on the ballot for selection as a candidate in either of the two KSAC council divisions within that constituency.
According to a source close to the ruling People’s National Party (PNP), Thwaites did not present himself for selection in either the Allman Town division, where the parish council seat will be contested by Desmond Bailey, or in the Rae Town division, where yesterday, voting stalled several times before a controversial decision was taken to present Joseph Knight as candidate. Also on the ballot in Rae Town were Dunstan Whittingham and Jennifer Newman.
“This doesn’t mean that he’s out completely,” said the source yesterday.
“All it means is that he probably will not be running in Central Kingston, but that does not preclude him from running for a KSAC seat elsewhere.”
Before the general elections last year, Thwaites was forced to give up his parliamentary seat under a cloud of controversy and suspicion when he voluntarily admitted that a cryptic article by Observer columnist, Mark Wignall, alleging financial impropriety by a PNP, politician referred to him.
In his article, Wignall claimed that someone within the PNP hierarchy and the sitting government had collected millions of dollars on behalf of the Postal Corporation of Jamaica, where Thwaites’ son, Daniel Thwaites was chairman. Wignall also charged that the same politician had used a property that was willed to the church, and on whose probate he had worked, to secure a loan with a local bank, which then went into default.
Thwaites that same day appeared on a radio current affairs programme where he admitted that he was the politician in question, but that there was no fraud involved. He nevertheless resigned as MP, citing the need to regularise his personal finances.
Shortly afterwards, postmaster-general, Blossom O’Meally-Nelson ordered a forensic audit of the transaction, while Samuel Carter, former head of the Roman Catholic Church, where Thwaites is also a deacon, admitted that he had given Thwaites permission to use the property as collateral — a decision which Carter’s successor, Edgerton Clarke, described as “ill-advised”.
In December last year, six months after he demitted office, Thwaites announced that his financial affairs were all in order and that he was ready to present himself as a candidate for the upcoming local government elections, scheduled for March this year.
A report by Auditor-General Adrian Strachan also cleared the former MP, citing, instead, “errors” on the part of Thwaites’ law firm in collecting and lodging the $5-million cheque.
Since then, Prime Minister P J Patterson has added his voice to the implicit endorsements, stating on public radio that he had no problems with Thwaites running.
Sources say Thwaites has his eyes on the job of Mayor of Kingston.