The declaration by Opposition Leader Mark Golding last Wednesday that the controversy surrounding Member of Parliament (MP) George Wright is highly politicised has been quietly welcomed by some members of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Speaking during the sitting of the House of Representatives Golding said: “This instance, because of the wider circumstances around the matter — and they say it shouldn’t be politicised, but it has been highly politicised — a person has been removed from the caucus of the governing party.

“The person has been removed from any positions they may hold within their party, so it is totally disingenuous and absolutely absurd to pretend that this is not a matter that’s highly politicised.”

On the weekend, JLP sources, who requested anonymity, argued that Golding’s statement shows that politics is as much behind the calls for Wright’s resignation as is the moral outrage over the video which shows a man violently abusing a woman.

“This has been the most honest thing to come out of the PNP [People’s National Party] since this video recording went viral,” declared a senior JLP member.

“A number of the organisations which are calling on Wright to resign, several of which I have never heard about, or which have been silent in the face of other moral issues, need to admit that they have taken a political position.

“They have decided to find him guilty without any proof because they believe his resignation would lead to a by-election that the PNP could win. The Government, led by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, has made it clear that we are firm against gender violence but we also respect the process,” added the JLP member.

Before last year, the Westmoreland Central constituency, which was created in 1959, has been won by the PNP in every contested general election except 1980 when there was a big swing to the JLP. The JLP also won the seat in the 1983 General Election which the PNP did not contest.

For most knowledgeable Jamaican election watchers, once Westmoreland Central was declared for Wright over the PNP’s Dwayne Vaz in the September 3, 2020 General Election, it was obvious that the JLP would be elected to form the next Government, with an overwhelming majority.

Vaz had first been elected to represent the people of Westmoreland Central in December 2014 when he romped to victory with a more than 2,500-vote margin over the JLP’s Faye Reid-Jacobs in a by-election following the death of the then Member of Parliament Roger Clarke.

The PNP’s victory margin narrowed in the 2016 General Election, but Vaz did enough to beat then first-time parliamentary candidate Wright by just over 1,000 votes.

It was Wright’s turn to shine in 2020 as he polled 8,477 votes to defeat Vaz by 1,189 votes. That could be enough to see the JLP hold on to the seat if Wright resigns, forcing a by-election.

But neither party will be assured of victory as the JLP knows that its candidate won in 2020 with almost 400 fewer votes than he polled in his losing cause in 2016, while more than 2,700 people who voted for the PNP in 2016 stayed away from the 2020 poll.

The JLP well knows that Westmoreland Central has long been PNP country, and a strong candidate with a good message and financial backing could see Comrades return to the days when Clarke, in the 2011 election, polled 11,564 votes to beat Marlene Malahoo Forte by more than 3,000 votes, or the 2007 poll when Clarke’s 10,441 votes left Russell Hammond in his rear view with 8,633, despite the PNP losing that general election.

The JLP memories could also stretch back to 2002 when Dr Karl Blythe beat Trevor Brooks by almost 3,000 votes to take the seat for the PNP.

Wright is now on a leave of absence from Parliament until June 21, following the release of a video which shows a man beating a woman with his fist and a stool.

He has neither confirmed nor denied that he is the man in the video and the police have closed their investigation in the case as there is no complainant, and investigators were unable to properly identify the two people seen in the video.

But, despite the statement from the police, more than 30 professional and advocacy groups have called on the first-time MP to resign, while the JLP instructed him to leave the party’s parliamentary caucus and sit in the House as an independent member. He has also been stripped of all party functions but, importantly, not expelled.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Marissa Dalrymple-Phillibert, on Tuesday shut down efforts by the parliamentary Opposition to move a motion to suspend the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Westmoreland, George Wright.

A Government lawmaker, Wright is believed to have been the man who was caught on video savagely beating an unidentified woman in Hanover on April 6.

The video has gone viral on social media, and on Monday the top brass of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) pleaded with Wright to make himself available to the police.

Shortly after the House of Representatives convened on Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Business, Anthony Hylton, rose to his feet and indicated that he was about to move a motion for Wright to be suspended.

“Madam Speaker, I rise to give notice of motion to suspend a member of this honourable House,” Hylton began without naming Wright. However, he did not get much further, as he was swiftly cut off by Dalrymple-Phillibert.

“Hmm, to do what?” the speaker questioned.

“To suspend a member of this honourable House in the terms…,” Hylton said before he was again cut off by the speaker, who asked him to “hold a minute”.

By that time, Government members, who were clearly not in support of the motion, had started to raise their voices, prompting Dalrymple-Phillibert to remind them that they were in a parliamentary sitting.

“Allow me to deal with the matter, let us have good behaviour,” she said before proceeding to tell Hylton why she would not allow the motion to be taken.

Before addressing him, Dalrymple-Phillibert made it “abundantly clear” that “if indeed the leader of Opposition business is referring to the video that has been circulating on social media, I want, before making a ruling, to state very clearly that I have seen the video and what I have seen in the video cannot be condoned, whether it be by a Member of Parliament or the man on the street.

“I want to make this country be aware of the fact that domestic violence is not, and will not be tolerated by this Government or this Parliament at any time,” she declared.

But the speaker was adamant that in respect to Hylton’s motion for suspension, she had to be guided by the laws of the land and by the standing orders of the House.

While stating that Parliament is the highest court of the land, Dalrymple-Phillibert argued that Members of Parliament have to be so guided. She said no charges have been laid against Wright by the police, and there has been no formal complaint made against him.

“I watched the video and I watched it several times today (Tuesday), and I cannot recognise definitively, any person in that video…(and) neither the police have identified Wright as being the man in the video,” said the speaker.

A lawyer by training, Dalrymple-Phillibert said if someone (relevant) had been identified and charged, she would allow the motion.

After suggesting to Hylton that if he could give her some further guidance on the matter, he may have been allowed to proceed, Hylton attempted to do so, but was interrupted by Government member, Everald Warmington, who told him it was “not the first time you are being dishonest”.

Hylton had attempted to read from a statement that was issued by JLP General Secretary, Dr Horace Chang on Monday, which urged Wright to “make himself available to the police”.

It appeared to be a matter of semantics, as Hylton had stated that Chang, in the news release, had asked Wright to “turn himself in to the police”.

Rising on a point of order, Warmington declared that “at no stage in the release it said to turn himself in or what have you. It said nothing like that. He’s (Hylton) misleading the House; please be honest.”

Continuing, Warmington said: “I’m not surprised at you being so dishonest anyhow”.

Refusing to be cowed, Hylton read correctly from the statement, which said Wright should make himself available to the police, to protestations from Government members.

An intervention from Opposition Leader Mark Golding failed to sway Dalrymple-Phillibert. Golding told the speaker that she should at least allow the member to “put forward the case as to why he thinks the motion should be allowed…”

Golding was almost shouted down by Government MPs as he told the speaker that “You can’t prejudge the matter without hearing him (Hylton)”.

At that point, Leader of Government Business in the House, Edmund Bartlett, rose on a point of order and urged Hylton to abide by the Speaker’s ruling.

Bartlett declared Hylton’s motion to be “lacking in substance, in fact and in legal validity…” even though he had not been allowed to raise it.

At that point Hylton backed down.

House Speaker Marissa Dalrymple Philibert today blocked attempts by the Opposition to move a motion for the suspension of Westmoreland Central Member of Parliament George Wright.

Wright has been listed as a person of interest in an assault case.

According to the speaker, the move is premature.

IN PHOTO: Central Member of Parliament George Wright

Leader of Opposition Business Anthony Hylton pressed, saying the motion should be allowed given the circumstantial evidence.

But Dalrymple Philibert insisted that there was no evidence of a criminal charge against a member of the House.

Yesterday, the police said they expected Wright to surrender by Wednesday.

Across the diaspora, discussions have reignited regarding the role of Queen Elizabeth II in independent commonwealth nations.

This is following a recent interview with Prince Harry and his wife, Megan Markle. During the March 7^th sit-down with Oprah, the couple made claims of racism against the family. The interview sparked global outrage and has fueled discussions for former colonies of the UK to cut ties with the British monarchy.

Last year, Barbados had announced its intention to remove the Queen as its head of state and to become a republic this year. Barbados would join Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Haiti, as republic CARICOM Countries.

Jamaica’s opposition leader, Mark Golding is pushing for Jamaica to be added to that list.

During his contribution to the 2021/22 Budget debate on March 16, the People’s National Party President said the government owes it to Jamaican national heroes to complete the circle of independence.

“Jamaica has produced leaders like our revered national heroes who played their part in getting us to where we are now as a nation. Surely, we owe it to these heroes to complete the circle of our independence so that all our symbols and institutions are legitimately and proudly our own,” he said.

According to Mark Golding, both parties have supported removing the Queen of head of state since the 1960s. However, no government has actually taken the steps towards complete independence.

“The time has come for Jamaica to cut the link with the English monarchy and become a republic within the commonwealth. My understanding is that the two sides have been at one with this for many years, but what is important is to deal with it. It cannot be right for this country, with its history of struggle against oppression, to continue to pay allegiance to such an important symbol that does not and cannot, by definition, reflect and  have meaning to the vast majority of our people.”

Golding called on government officials to support a Motion proposed by Parliament member Mikael Phillips. The motion proposes a referendum on replacing the Queen as head of State pinned to the next local government elections.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding said the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) guarantor system should be abolished as it is undermining the path to prosperity for children from low-income households.

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, in opening the Budget Debate last week, had said that come April, the requirement could be revised to allow for the use of one guarantor for a loan.

But Golding said the Government has not gone far enough and proposed that there be none at all.

The opposition leader stated when the books of the SLB were examined at the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, the amounts recovered from guarantors were minuscule.

Golding stated that it suggested that the requirement for guarantor was not necessary for the sustainability of the bureau.

“We know that many potential student loan applicants from low-income homes cannot find a suitable guarantor. The requirement of finding a guarantor works against children from low-income families,” Golding contended.

Social commentator Jaevion Nelson said the requirement for two guarantors had been highly stressful for potential borrowers.

“If you think about people who are from poor communities where they are oftentimes not many people who are able to do something like this or would have already been a guarantor for some, it is difficult for them to find somebody else,” Nelson argued.

The State, and not students, he said, should bear the risk of employment creation in the country.

“The financing of tertiary education needs to be transformed, especially for young people who just don’t have it,” Golding declared in Parliament.

But financial analyst Dennis Chung believes Golding’s proposal has gone too far.

“If you don’t have guarantors, then it means if people don’t pay back, you can’t recover. So, it increases the risk,” Chung argued.

But Christina Williams, former president of the University of the West Indies Guild of Students, said she would welcome any proposal that could make access to the funds easier.

“I commend the principle of Mark Golding just as how I commended the policy revision of the Government in giving one guarantor,” she told The Gleaner.

Golding said a PNP administration would reconfigure the loan structure to cap repayment to a “reasonable” percentage of the actual income of the borrower.

On that issue, Williams said that Golding’s proposal presented cause for concern.

“Can the monthly fees of current graduates really act as adequate security for these loans? Students are making, on average, between $65,000 and $100,000 per month with the numerous other debts to reconcile,” she questioned.

romario.scott@gleanerjm.com

An audit is under way into the roll-out of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which met with challenges in the first two days when some persons not slated to receive the jab were thrust to the front of the line to be inoculated.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health & Wellness, Dunstan Bryan, told a joint select committee of Parliament discussing issues related to COVID-19 on Tuesday that fewer than 100 persons outside of the priority groups had been inoculated.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said that an audit had been preplanned for the vaccination drive and had not necessarily been activated “to determine deviant behaviour, even though that may turn up, but to also improve the efficiency of the programme”.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding had called for the audit after reports surfaced that persons who had not been on the priority list had received the jab last week.

The joint select committee was also informed that 14 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been wasted since the inoculation exercise started.

Dr Melody Ennis, director of family services in the Ministry of Health & Wellness, said that a table collapsed and a vial broke with eight doses in western Jamaica. She said there was another incident in which a vial fell from someone, resulting in six doses going to waste.

In his contribution to the Budget Debate on Tuesday, Golding also raised concerns about reports of 10 doses of vaccine that went missing at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James.

Responding to criticisms in relation to the vaccine roll-out, Tufton said that at the National Chest Hospital, the system was shut down when there was a rush on the facility.

He told the committee that the dash for the vaccine had been triggered by persons calling others to take advantage.

At the St Joseph’s Hospital, the health minister said that the plan was put in place to vaccinate private physicians and nurses.

“Many of them turned up and brought with them their significant other, their caregivers, or their very close friends,” Tufton said.

He sought to brush aside public concerns that wealthy Jamaicans seized the opportunity to run ahead of the vaccination schedule.

“The truth is because we were serving private practitioners … so you come to a location and you see a lot of not-so-inexpensive cars, persons who are in line, there is an impression that is formed that it is an uptown crowd, and the truth is that category of persons who were being served at that time would create that impression,” Tufton added.

Approximately 64,000-plus doses have been shipped to Jamaica.

During Tuesday’s deliberations, Bryan said that the Government had revised the total number of vaccines to arrive into the country for this quarter.

He said that there was a downward projection of 100,000 vaccines from the 974,000 that were anticipated for the period.

“So we had projected an additional 100,000 – that has not materialised in the month of March,” Bryan said.

Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding, has told National Security Minister, Dr Horace Chang that he is treading on a “slippery slope” following comments made by Chang that the democratically-elected Government “cannot be vetoed in carrying out executive action in the face of crisis”.

Golding warned Chang that such talk threatened the very foundations of governance in the country.

The warning was triggered after Chang, during a wide-ranging address on crime in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, asserted that it is “inappropriate to block executive attempts in the interest of the people”.

The Government has relied heavily on states of emergency (SOEs) to combat the crime scourge which has seen on average 1,300 people murdered annually in Jamaica. However, the SOEs, which are widely popular with Jamaicans, especially those living in crime-plagued inner-city communities where the homicide rates are highest, were discontinued on the eve of the September 3, 2020 General Elections.

While the Government has a super majority in the House of Representatives and would need no support from the Opposition, it would need at least one Opposition senator to throw his or her support behind the Government for the SOEs to be brought back.

The Opposition has already stated that it will not be supporting any return to SOEs and any hope the Government has of doing so soon, faces legal hurdles following a Supreme Court ruling last year that determined that the prolonged detention of five men under the SOEs was unconstitutional.

Chang, who along with Police Commissioner, Major General Antony Anderson, continues to signal his preference for SOEs, argued that while the elected Government has a responsibility to respect the rights of the people, it must also ensure that other individuals also respect the rights of all citizens.

Golding, in his response to Chang, stated that the executive is obligated to operate within the framework of the country’s laws, the Constitution in particular. He told his fellow Members of Parliament (MPs) that all 63 House Members had sworn an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of Jamaica.

“If we lose sight of that, we are on a slippery slope away from a Government ruled by laws, to a Government ruled by power, uncircumscribed by law, which is a dangerous country for us, and we don’t want to go there,” said Golding.