POLITICAL HIT JOB!

Embattled People’s National Party (PNP) General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell has asserted that sex crime allegations levelled against him are part of an ouster plot

This development could open up fresh wounds in an internecine conflict between factions loyal to PNP President Mark Golding and dissidents determined to undermine his leadership.

Karen Cross, a feisty PNP activist, launched an invective against Campbell months ago, accusing him of having intercourse with minors.

But Campbell has rejected those assertions as false and malicious and is suing for defamation.

In an escalation of the dispute, affidavits were filed with allegations, purportedly authored by three accusers, of sexual encounters with Campbell when they were below the age of 16.

The allegations emerged in a defence filed in the Supreme Court on May 13 by lawyers representing Cross, who, along with bloggers Natalee Stack and Michelle Stern, is the subject of a defamation lawsuit filed by Campbell.

In proclaiming his innocence on Wednesday, Campbell charged that Cross was a “political mercenary” with an agenda of “forcing me to resign my position as general secretary”.

Campbell believes that his departure as general secretary could pave the way for critics of Golding, who prevailed against Lisa Hanna in a bruising leadership race last year. Golding is also the opposition leader.

The general secretary of the PNP operates as its chief executive officer and is responsible for oversight of all party’s affairs, including collating delegates.

Calls to Cross’ mobile phone on Wednesday went unanswered.

Georgia Gibson Henlin, Campbell’s attorney, said, in a statement on Wednesday, that there is an injunction restraining all parties from repeating the allegations.

“The dissemination of alleged statements to and in the media is Ms Cross’ deliberate circumvention of the court’s orders,” Gibson Henlin said.

The attorney said further that Campbell was “not provided with any indication of who the alleged ‘victims’ are or whether those ‘March 2021’ dated statements were made available to the police prior to them closing their investigations on the 18th April 2021”.

Gibson Henlin also said that her client would want to verify whether the purported victims appeared before justices of the peace or if only their IDs and statements were presented.

Former PNP Senator Imani Duncan-Price called on the party to draw a red line in the wake of a physical assault saga that has caused Westmoreland Central Member of Parliament George Wright, of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, to go on a leave of absence.

“Clear action must be taken! All organisations, including the PNP, must do what is right,” Duncan-Price wrote in a Twitter post.

Duncan-Price supported Hanna’s failed bid for leadership in November’s internal election and lost in her candidacy defending Kingston Central, a PNP stronghold, in the September 2020 national polls.

National Integrity Action, a civil-society lobby, added pressure on Campbell, calling for the PNP senior officer to step aside from his position and for the police to reopen their investigation.

Former PNP General Secretary Paul Burke said that any member of the PNP’s powerful National Executive Council (NEC) could press for the matter to be referred to the party’s Disciplinary Committee.

“Action can be brought against anybody in the party who has brought the party into disrepute,” Burke said.

Some of Campbell’s fiercest critics and detractors are NEC members, and the general secretary could have to contend with their influence at the next meeting scheduled for July.

Reacting to Campbell’s claim there is a plot to oust him, Burke acknowledged that those on social media bad-mouthing Campbell supported one camp.

“But I don’t think he is saying that everybody who supported Comrade Lisa Hanna is part of a conspiracy,” Burke said.

The former general secretary warned against the swiftness with which people have been calling for resignations amid allegations of wrongdoing.

“We have to be careful about allegations against charges.

“The party has to be very careful it does not set a precedent ... . So if two years from now someone says, ‘The party president assaulted me,’ whilst it’s being investigated, do you expect the party president to step down?

Burke, however, has implored the officer corps of the PNP to urge the police to find the then-minors who purportedly signatured the statements.

Efforts by The Gleaner for a comment from the police were unsuccessful.

romario.scott@gleanerjm.com