Chamber scolds PNP, JLP and PM
The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) yesterday scolded both the People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for apparently snubbing an invitation to attend a meeting called to gain consensus on a protocol for campaign financing.
At the same time, the Chamber expressed disappointment with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s parliamentary response to the Trafigura affair last Tuesday, saying that they had expected full disclosure and decisive action to end the controversy.
“We had hoped that full disclosure would have been made in a manner which conclusively answered the numerous questions which have been raised by various individuals, interest groups and organisations, none more important than the other,” the JCC said in its fourth statement on the Trafigura affair since its public disclosure on October 3.
“Further, we had hoped that the prime minister would have acted decisively to dispel the perception of a “culture of corruption”. In our view, the only way the country can return to normalcy is with full disclosure and the taking of decisive action by the prime minister to bring closure to this unsavoury affair,” the JCC said.
Prime Minister Simpson Miller has been under intense fire to speak publicly on the Trafigura affair since the Opposition JLP told the country of a $31-million donation made to the ruling PNP by Dutch oil trader Trafigura just before the PNP’s 68th annual conference in September.
The donation has been described as inappropriate by the JCC and other groups and individuals in the country, given that Trafigura has a contract with the Jamaican Government to lift and sell Nigerian crude on the world market for Jamaica.
The scandal has resulted in the resignation of Colin Campbell from the Cabinet and from his job as general-secretary of the PNP, and Simpson Miller has ordered the money returned after Trafigura claimed that it was not an election campaign donation, as declared by the PNP, but payment on a commercial agreement.
Last week Tuesday, when Simpson Miller spoke on the controversy, during a debate on a no-confidence motion brought against the Government by the Opposition, she basically held the party line that nothing improper was done.
She also accused the JLP of trying to score political points and reiterated her commitment to reform of the country’s electoral laws “in so far as they deal with the question of the funding of political parties and expenditure on election campaigns”.
In its first statement on the issue, the JCC had offered to convene a meeting of the stakeholders in Jamaica’s political process to deal with the issue of campaign finance reform.
Yesterday, the Chamber said it arranged such a meeting for October 19 in fulfilment of its promise.
“The aim of this meeting was to advance the building of a consensus towards the development of a protocol on campaign financing, leading ultimately to legislation,” the JCC said.
“If our political parties are not to be regarded as merely “blowing smoke”, they should willingly participate in this process. In this regard, the JCC is extremely disappointed that neither the JLP nor the PNP attended the meeting, despite the fact that they may have been preoccupied with the Trafigura affair,” the Chamber added.
“The Chamber believes that good governance should not only be guided by the rule of law but also by the principle of transparency and truth. By virtue of this principle, elected officials must have as their first duty their service to the people of Jamaica.”