Building a Better Jamaica

Published: Thursday | September 2, 2010
Jamaica Gleaner Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com

Prime Minister Bruce Golding is slated to meet with several private-sector leaders this morning to provide answers to their questions on the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips affair.

Private-sector leaders had submitted six questions to Golding in the wake of a Sunday Gleaner exposé on the emails shared by Solicitor General Douglas Leys, local attorney Harold Brady and the American law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

The Government has argued that, while Golding has already said all that he knows about the affair which has engulfed his administration for months, he was willing to meet with the private-sector leaders and other groups in a bid to clear the air.

However, the administration has made it clear that the discussions will not only focus on the Manatt issue.

"Other meetings that are planned will not be specific to the issue of the extradition and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips but more a one-on-one in terms of current issues affecting the country and matters that may be of concern to those civic groups and individuals," Vaz told journalists during yesterday's post-Cabinet media briefing.

Further meetings

He said that, after today's meeting at Jamaica House, the prime minister would head to Montego Bay, St James, in the near future to meet with groups in western Jamaica.

But Vaz was clear that the prime minister would not be embarking on islandwide roadshows, as reported in sections of the media.

"I never at any time indicated this grand roadshow that is being indicated and which has sparked questions about costs," Vaz added.

Golding has already met with church leaders who had raised questions about his handling of the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke and the subsequent engagement of Manatt, reportedly by the Jamaica Labour Party.