(Jamaica Gleaner) Prime Minister Bruce Golding has gone on the offensive while suggesting that critics of his handling of the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips issue have been unfair, unkind and political.
According to Golding, the critics, which he implied include sections of the media, are seeking to detract from the achievements of his administration.
“I have declared all that I know about this Manatt matter but that still don’t satisfy some people,” Golding said as he addressed Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters at a meeting of its Area Council One in Papine, St Andrew, on Sunday.
“Some people say you haven’t said all that you know. I have said that the Government did not employ Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and I went further to say that if the Government did employ (the law firm), there would be some document signed by the attorney general or the solicitor general or by me or the foreign minister,” Golding added.
With his supporters cheering his every word, Golding declared that he had presented all the facts and outlined all the issues but the Manatt matter has provided an opportunity for persons to coalesce in opposition to the Government.
“I don’t deny them that. They are free to do that. However, I’m disappointed at the strategy that is being played out,” Golding said.
He argued that on March 16, he was asked by Opposition Member of Parliament Dr Peter Phillips if the Government had contracted Manatt and answered truthfully that it had not.
However, Golding noted that when he later declared that the United States law firm was retained by the JLP, he was accused of lying to Parliament.
Golding pointed to a Gleaner editorial which claimed he lied to Parliament and said he sent a copy of the page of Hansard – the official record of Parliament – to the managing director of The Gleaner Company, Oliver Clarke, showing the question asked and his response.
“And two weeks later, another editorial appeared in The Gleaner again saying that I lied. This is after Mr Clarke had gotten the Hansard copy,” Golding said.
“And therefore I am left with no other conclusion than that there are persons in Jamaica who do not want the propaganda to be disturbed by the facts.
“You have a line that you want to take and you have to keep the facts as far as possible from that line because the line and the facts cannot dwell together,” charged Golding.
