By Zadie Neufville
KINGSTON, Aug 10 2001 (IPS)

The leaders of Jamaica’s two main political parties are at odds over the choice of commissioners to probe last month’s civil violence in which 25 people were killed.

Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Edward Seaga has made appointment of the commission of inquiry a pre-condition for discussing ways to end continuing violence in Kingston’s west end. Since the beginning of the year, gun battles have claimed more than 70 lives. Police say they were searching for weapons Jul. 7 when they clashed with gunmen in the troubled communities.

The rift between Seaga and Prime Minister PJ Patterson, of the People’s National Party (PNP), means that talks to end the cycle of violence have stalled more than four weeks after the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica offered to mediate them.

Corporate leaders are conducting shuttle diplomacy between the JLP and PNP. The stakes are high for the business community: West Kingston’s troubled gangland abuts the city’s commercial centre. In the absence of a cooling-off between the parties, police say another 11 people were killed between Jul. 25 and Aug. 5.

The JLP says the victims are all its supporters, but police say they have no way of determining whether those killed have links to any political party. Derrick Smith, the JLP spokesman on national security, says the opposition wants to talk but the killings are eroding such progress as has been made.

“The JLP had harboured high anticipation that the violence would have eased following the meeting of the parties. However, the party is deeply concerned about the relentless attack on its supporters in western Kingston,” Smith says in a statement.

Patterson named a three-member commission Tuesday but Seaga has voiced dissatisfaction with at least one panel member and the manner in which the selections were made.

The commission members are Julius Alexander Isaac, a Grenadian- born retired jurist who was the first black person appointed to the Canadian Federal Court; Garnett Brown, a prominent agriculturalist and head of the Church of God in Jamaica; and retired Jamaican criminologist Hyacinthe Ellis. They are charged with investigating, among other things, the reasons for violence in several inner-city west Kingston communities and the link between the drug trade and crime.

Seaga says in a statement that he is angry that his choices and concerns had not been given thought and that he objects to Brown’s appointment. He has accused Patterson of usurping the authority of Governor-General Howard Cook in naming the commission.

The Commissions of Enquiry Act does not give the Prime Minister, as head of government, the power to call and name the commissioners, Seaga says. Rather, the act hands the power to appoint commissioners and set their terms of reference to the Governor-General, as effective head of state.

Patterson denies Seaga’s accusation, saying he advised Cook of his selections and the terms of reference. Seaga had also expressed his choices and concerns in a letter to Cook but says he was displeased that it took a second letter before the Governor- General responded.

Seaga says he wanted the commission to look at the violence of Jul. 7-9 but the Prime Minister has insisted that the commissioners probe not only the gun battles but also events in the weeks leading to the flare-up. The inquiry thus could encompass questions of the ties between criminal enterprises and political parties as well as speculation that the opposition manipulated the situation for political gain.

Meanwhile, there is much speculation about Seaga’s reasons for objecting to Brown’s appointment. Abe Dabdoub, a JLP Member of Parliament and attorney at law, says it may have been the churchman’s refusal to serve as an independent senator in 1983. Others say it could be that Brown is associated with job cuts because, in 1995, he held a senior position in the Cabinet Office as head of the unit responsible for modernising the public sector. Brown headed both the island’s agricultural and small business development programmes under the JLP regime in 1980 but later deserted the party.

While the parties bicker, others are losing patience.

Church leader Herro Blair is the latest to join Jamaican airline and hotel mogul Gordon “Butch” Stewart in urging the politicians to “meet without further delay.”

Stewart, chairman of Air Jamaica and the Sandals chain, which operates 10 hotels on the island, is predicting massive lay-offs in tourism and other sectors of the economy.

Pearnel Charles, a labour union leader and former deputy JLP chief, has called for the leaders to “take collective and appropriate action” to save the country from ruin.

However, Bruce Golding, a former JLP parliamentarian and founder of the breakaway National Democratic Movement, says making concessions is not a part of the leaders’ psyche.

“There is a high premium attached to power,” he says, adding that neither of the parties is willing to make sacrifices that will impede the search for power.

Golding says he has very little hope that a meeting of the leaders will solve the problems “unless there is a willingness to forgo partisan interest in the interest of the country.”

Excerpt:

By Zadie Neufville
KINGSTON, Aug 10 2001 (IPS)

The leaders of Jamaica’s two main political parties are at odds over the choice of commissioners to probe last month’s civil violence in which 25 people were killed.

Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Edward Seaga has made appointment of the commission of inquiry a pre-condition for discussing ways to end continuing violence in Kingston’s west end. Since the beginning of the year, gun battles have claimed more than 70 lives. Police say they were searching for weapons Jul. 7 when they clashed with gunmen in the troubled communities.

The rift between Seaga and Prime Minister PJ Patterson, of the People’s National Party (PNP), means that talks to end the cycle of violence have stalled more than four weeks after the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica offered to mediate them.

Corporate leaders are conducting shuttle diplomacy between the JLP and PNP. The stakes are high for the business community: West Kingston’s troubled gangland abuts the city’s commercial centre. In the absence of a cooling-off between the parties, police say another 11 people were killed between Jul. 25 and Aug. 5.

The JLP says the victims are all its supporters, but police say they have no way of determining whether those killed have links to any political party. Derrick Smith, the JLP spokesman on national security, says the opposition wants to talk but the killings are eroding such progress as has been made.

“The JLP had harboured high anticipation that the violence would have eased following the meeting of the parties. However, the party is deeply concerned about the relentless attack on its supporters in western Kingston,” Smith says in a statement.

Patterson named a three-member commission Tuesday but Seaga has voiced dissatisfaction with at least one panel member and the manner in which the selections were made.

The commission members are Julius Alexander Isaac, a Grenadian- born retired jurist who was the first black person appointed to the Canadian Federal Court; Garnett Brown, a prominent agriculturalist and head of the Church of God in Jamaica; and retired Jamaican criminologist Hyacinthe Ellis. They are charged with investigating, among other things, the reasons for violence in several inner-city west Kingston communities and the link between the drug trade and crime.

Seaga says in a statement that he is angry that his choices and concerns had not been given thought and that he objects to Brown’s appointment. He has accused Patterson of usurping the authority of Governor-General Howard Cook in naming the commission.

The Commissions of Enquiry Act does not give the Prime Minister, as head of government, the power to call and name the commissioners, Seaga says. Rather, the act hands the power to appoint commissioners and set their terms of reference to the Governor-General, as effective head of state.

Patterson denies Seaga’s accusation, saying he advised Cook of his selections and the terms of reference. Seaga had also expressed his choices and concerns in a letter to Cook but says he was displeased that it took a second letter before the Governor- General responded.

Seaga says he wanted the commission to look at the violence of Jul. 7-9 but the Prime Minister has insisted that the commissioners probe not only the gun battles but also events in the weeks leading to the flare-up. The inquiry thus could encompass questions of the ties between criminal enterprises and political parties as well as speculation that the opposition manipulated the situation for political gain.

Meanwhile, there is much speculation about Seaga’s reasons for objecting to Brown’s appointment. Abe Dabdoub, a JLP Member of Parliament and attorney at law, says it may have been the churchman’s refusal to serve as an independent senator in 1983. Others say it could be that Brown is associated with job cuts because, in 1995, he held a senior position in the Cabinet Office as head of the unit responsible for modernising the public sector. Brown headed both the island’s agricultural and small business development programmes under the JLP regime in 1980 but later deserted the party.

While the parties bicker, others are losing patience.

Church leader Herro Blair is the latest to join Jamaican airline and hotel mogul Gordon “Butch” Stewart in urging the politicians to “meet without further delay.”

Stewart, chairman of Air Jamaica and the Sandals chain, which operates 10 hotels on the island, is predicting massive lay-offs in tourism and other sectors of the economy.

Pearnel Charles, a labour union leader and former deputy JLP chief, has called for the leaders to “take collective and appropriate action” to save the country from ruin.

However, Bruce Golding, a former JLP parliamentarian and founder of the breakaway National Democratic Movement, says making concessions is not a part of the leaders’ psyche.

“There is a high premium attached to power,” he says, adding that neither of the parties is willing to make sacrifices that will impede the search for power.

Golding says he has very little hope that a meeting of the leaders will solve the problems “unless there is a willingness to forgo partisan interest in the interest of the country.”

Excerpt: