EDITORIAL - Does Mr Golding have the moral authority to lead?

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, we conclude, knowingly and deliberately, misled Jamaica about his, and his government's involvement in the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips affair.

Of course, the prime minister has not overtly, or frankly, conceded his lies in his parliamentary statement on Tuesday, preferring, even at this late stage, to hide behind obfuscation and semantics. But Mr Golding admitted that he sanctioned the ruling Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) hiring of Manatt to lobby the United States (US) government on behalf of Jamaica over his administration's refusal to extradite alleged drug dealer and gunrunner Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

It is useful to remind ourselves of some of the salient issues in this controversy.

When Dr Peter Phillips first claimed that the Government, using the law firm of JLP member, Harold Brady, had hired Manatt to lobby for it in the Coke matter, Mr Golding all but dismissed the assertion out of hand. Mr Golding did not even hint that, as leader of the JLP, he had authorised party officials, who remain unnamed, to engage Manatt. He lied by omission.

Claiming ignorance

Further, not only did government officials claim ignorance of a deal, Mr Golding's information minister, Daryl Vaz, gave Mr Brady 24 hours to have Manatt rectify its declaration that it represented the Government.

Mr Golding subsequently claimed that last December Solicitor General Douglas Leys happened to meet Mr Brady on a flight, who raised the possibility of Manatt assisting in the Coke extradition dispute. Mr Leys, on that basis, invited a Manatt representative to a meeting with US State Department officials, but merely as an observer. Mr Leys, though, revealed that he had spoken to Mr Brady on the matter months earlier.

As the embarrassment deepened, Mr Golding gave the job of damage control to the JLP's general secretary, Karl Samuda. He reported that some JLP members - he made it appear on their own volition - had, with Mr Brady's help, engaged Manatt. Mr Samuda also reported that the junior foreign minister, Dr Ronald Robinson, while on a private trip to Washington, had had a brief social encounter with Manatt officials. Mr Golding has now indicated that the meeting, though unofficial, was far more substantive than a "brief social encounter".

By Mr Golding's admission, the deal with Manatt was sanctioned by himself as leader of the JLP who, lest he forget, is also the prime minister of Jamaica. Mr Golding knew, as he told Parliament, that Mr Brady was in discussion and correspondence with Solicitor General Leys since last September on the Coke matter and the use of Manatt.

Indeed, we are surprised at Mr Golding's suggestion that someone as smart as Mr Leys did not realise that an email address to which he forwarded information to Mr Brady belonged to Manatt.

And the Manatt people, by the PM's implication, stupidly used their correspondence with Mr Leys and the meeting with Dr Robinson to assume they were acting on behalf of the administration.

Mr Golding must now tell us truthfully whose interest was being protected in this affair, name those who engaged Manatt, say who paid the bill and invite the contractor general to investigate the affair.

In many democracies, deliberately misleading the country is cause for a prime minister to resign. Mr Golding and the Jamaican people must decide whether the PM's lies now render him a fatally flawed leader.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.