Big mistake ………Davies says accepting Trafigura money an error of judgement
Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies yesterday agreed that the People’s National Party’s (PNP’s) acceptance of a $31-million donation from Dutch firm Trafigura, which has an oil contract with the Jamaican Government, was a bad decision, but said the greater concern was how political parties dealt with the ticklish issue of campaign financing.
“My colleague KD Knight indicated there was an error of judgement,” said Davies in reference to Knight’s presentation in Parliament on Tuesday when a no-confidence motion brought against the Government by the Opposition was debated.
“What you do with an error of judgement is you seek to correct that error. But more important to me. there needs to be an honest appraisal of how political parties, as well as individual politicians, obtain financial support for their activities,” said Davies.
The finance minister was answering questions from journalists at a news conference he had called at his Heroes Circle office to give an update on the economy’s performance at the half-way mark of the fiscal year.
Davies’ and Knight’s statements represented the first signs of remorse from within the ruling party whose officials, even up to Tuesday in the Parliament, stoutly defended the Trafigura transaction as proper and above board.
The administration has been soaking up heavy flak since October 3 when the Opposition, waving copies of cheques leaked from FirstCaribbean International Bank, revealed that Trafigura had transferred the money from its account in Amsterdam to an account which the PNP said was used to hold campaign funds.
The scandal has led to Colin Campbell resigning his jobs as information and development minister and as PNP general-secretary. Campbell said he chose to step down because he had not informed the PNP president and prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, as well as other officers of the party of the transaction.
Simpson Miller has since ordered the money returned to Trafigura as debate raged about the need for campaign financing reform.
Yesterday, Minister Davies said that while he did not wish to cast aspersions on the motivation for some of the comments, he thought the country could benefit from a greater level of honesty in the debate.
“Everybody knows that the rank-and-file, grassroots, their contributions cannot be the basis on which campaigns are funded, and so what we need to do is to take a genuine look at how we can put in place rules governing parties,” he said.
“What we need to do is to lay down rules as to how those flows should be governed. I do not believe you’ll ever have full disclosure, even in the countries which have the most comprehensive set of guidelines, but I think the first step on the way is to take the hypocrisy out of it.”
Davies also chided persons who sought to excuse the leaking of the bank account as a service in the national interest, saying that the argument was dangerous and frivolous.
“I’ve noticed and I’ve seen and have heard persons seeking to elevate such actions, and in this particular case, as akin to Nelson Mandela and Paul Bogle,” said Davies. “Let us get this nonsense out of the way. It’s dangerous and frivolous and we’re dealing with serious issues. People who see themselves as writers in the financial sector must not entertain and promote those views, that’s dangerous, and we must all condemn it.
“If we had a situation where every employee, whether it be in the private sector institutions or government, appointed themselves as being responsible for national interest, then we’re going to have chaos.”
He said he wanted to give the assurance that the banking system was intact, and insisted that “the breach which may have occurred represents a one-off occurrence”.