(Jamaica Gleaner) – Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s words have been thrown back at him by the People’s National Party (PNP), which has yet again declared he cannot be trusted.
PNP President Portia Simpson Miller has labelled Golding the “flip-flopper-in-chief”, and blasted him for the position he has adopted on the need for a state of emergency.
Using a letter to the editor, written by Golding and published in The Gleaner on October 9, 2003, as the springboard for her attack, Simpson Miller said the prime minister has conveniently changed his stance.
Said Golding in his 2003 letter: “The poor who live in our inner cities, most of whom are no less law-abiding than Mr Thomas or Professor Robotham, have no such assurance and no such privilege. Every so often, the police detain scores of people who are first locked up then ‘processed’ and later released. Why?”
Kingsley Thomas (who, in 2003, was the chairman of the National Housing Trust) and Don Robotham were, at the time, calling for the imposition of a state of emergency in the wake of rising violent crime.
‘No need for trial’
“… The police have no evidence on which to charge them. Under the Thomas-Robotham plan, the police would simply detain and lock up. No need for any ‘processing’! No need for any evidence! No need for any trial!
“The gates are flung wide open for corrupt policemen to ‘deal with’ individuals with whom they have a dispute, and for a corrupt government to ‘deal with’ its political opponents with whom it always has a dispute,” Golding’s letter said.
