House passes censure motion against Samuda
THE House of Representatives passed a censure motion Tuesday against Opposition Member of Parliament Karl Samuda, after the Opposition walked out of the debate.
The walk-out was triggered by the refusal of the Speaker to allow Leader of the Opposition Bruce Golding to present information in which he claimed that the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) had benefited from an oil deal between the governments of Jamaica and Nigeria.
Golding defended Samuda, who was accused of misleading the House of Representatives by reading from a document which he purported to be a report on the Sandals Whitehouse Hotel Project requested by former Prime Minister P J Patterson, which Noel Hylton, president of the Port Authority of Jamaica, said he did not submit to Patterson.
He said that nowhere in the available communications did Hylton deny knowledge of the document, nor responsibility for its preparation, although he insisted that it was not submitted to Patterson.
“Let no one, let no one in this House challenge the integrity of this document, because if you do so then you are casting aspersions on the integrity of the person who was charged by the former prime minister with his responsibility,” he said.
He admitted, however, that the government had the numbers to pass the censure motion, although he felt it would have been a corrupt use of the majority.
However, things got really out of hand when Golding turned to the issue of the Nigerian oil deal and the use of funds from trading company, Trafigura. The acting leader, Fitz Jackson, said that this was not relevant to the censure motion.
Speaker Michael Peart agreed, suggesting that Golding should bring a substantive motion on the oil issue, leading to a walk-out by the Opposition members.
The matter will now be referred to Parliament’s Ethics Committee, which will decide how or what action to take against Samuda.