Lorna Golding

Lorna Golding, sister of JLP MP and Minister of Labour Pearnel Charles and wife of  Prime Minister Bruce Golding, has urged us to “Read between the lines” when we consider his confessions, namely that he authorized the hiring of the U.S. law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips (after having insisted that he and his government had nothing to do with it).

Since then PM Golding has stopped stalling the extradition process and turned over the U.S.  request for Christopher “Dudus” Coke to the Jamaican legal system.

Okay, so let’s go ahead and read between the lines with Lorna :-

Is it that Bruce received a reminder from ‘Dudus’ that he,  Dudus, made him, Bruce, the M.P. for West Kingston  ? And can make him the “former M.P. of West Kingston” anytime…..

Did Dudus remind Bruce of the long agonizing months between Edward Seaga’s announcement that he would resign as Leader of  the Opposition in July 2004 to the old boy’s actual departure in January 2005 ? Those moments when it seemed that Seaga was going to give his seat to Desmond McKenzie and nothing could stop him, leaving Bruce out in the cold with no constituency, no seat, no chance to become Leader of the Opposition…….

Is that what we should remember, Lorna ? The days when  Daryl Vaz and James Robertson had to go into Tivoli and make whatever deals necessary with men that knew, trusted and liked Desmond McKenzie and did not know, like or trust Bruce Golding ? All so  Bruce could one day be the JLP’s  Prime Minister…….

Or should we read between the lines and stop feeling sorry for Bruce, who having sold out to Dudus so he could be PM,  has now turned around and sold out Dudus in order to remain PM for a few more weeks and months ?

Approving the extradition order for Dudus  was  the cross…. Now we’re waiting to find out what’s the DOUBLE CROSS.

Please take your pick and place your bets:-

(1) Dudus left town (and Jamaica) long ago.  Bruce’s confession last Tuesday  (May 11, 2010) was just another episode in his life long soap opera “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places”…..In Episode 120, after being rejected yet again, Bruised lashes out at Dudus on national TV……..

(2) Bruce waited to “confess” until Kingston was full to the brim of U.S. DEA agents and Columbian hit men (wishing to protect their supply lines) and is trying to scare Dudus out of Tivoli into the arms of  one or the other….. (This can still work…..)

(3) Dudus is already “sleeping with the fishes’ ….. Bruce has an agreement with one or two Dudus wannabees and the joke is once again on Tivoli residents and Jamaicans everywhere who are busy defending and condemning a dead man…..

(4) Embarrassed JLP donors (e.g. Wayne “No Visa” Chen, Gordon “Butch” Stewart ) tried to force Bruce to resign, and so now he’s threatening to give them what the duck got :- another confession, this time in Parliament, so Peter Phillips can “make him” tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth….

Please to leave your DOUBLE CROSS picks  in Comments !

Related posts

• Why are we waiting, Prime Minister Golding? (2)
• Hurricane season : ‘Dudus’ Coke heads north ? (118)

The IMF is said to be asking for at least 25,000 job cuts.

Air Jamaica will cost US$200 million to divest and/or some unnamed amount to keep it limping along.

Yes, there is nuff on PM Golding’s plate. But there are some things we can’t give him a bligh on:-

(1) Nothing has been done re the extradition of “Dudus”. Nothing except to give “Dudus” another government contract. How long can this go on without totally destroying the credibility and authority of the Prime Minister and his government ?

It is one thing for us, the voters, to gossip wildly and to continuously speculate and assert that we know which politician and which businessman is corrupt and in bed with the dons.

It is quite another for the Prime Minister to prevent the extradition of a man whom nobody, but NOBODY, is asserting has gained his power, influence or fortune by legal means. (Bunny Wailer, in case you are wondering, says he’s never met “Dudus” and is defending him based on some strange idea that the people of West Kingston need “Dudus” to rule over them, so he should be pardoned, not extradited….. Great musician Bunny Wailer. Nuff said ).

So what is the Prime Minister waiting for ? Someone to kill “Dudus” so he doesn’t have to deal with the matter ?

(2) When will there be an announcement of a by-election in East Rural St. Andrew, the constituency currently held by JLP M.P. Joseph Hibbert ? There is no question that Mr. Hibbert is guilty. He has admitted taking money from Mabey and Johnson, the British bridge building company, which subsequently received a no-bid contract from the Jamaican Government. Our Contractor-General concurs with Mr. Hibbert, and with the UK courts, that Mr. Hibbert took the money and is corrupted.

We are being told some bullshit that just because the company has been found guilty in the U.K. and just because the UK government is going to make the company pay the Jamaican government 5 million pounds in compensation for the corruption of our officials, and just because the said corrupted official is, by his own admission, Joe Hibbert, M.P. for East Rural St. Andrew, all of that doesn’t mean that Joe Hibbert is totally compromised and should resign immediately, or resign yesterday, whichever comes first…..

Then today, October 15, 2009, we hear that our Commissioner of Police Hardley Lewin is being pressured to resign. Probably because he doesn’t like the Prime Minister who is presiding over the non-extradition of “Dudus” and the non-resignation of Joe Hibbert, complaining that the Jamaica Constabulary Force isn’t doing enough to combat crime……. Yeah, right.

All I can think is that Prime Minister Golding is under the impression that it is imperative for him and his government to stay in power.

Hence nothing must be done to endanger his standing in his own constituency (the extradition of “Dudus”) and nothing must be done to endanger his slim majority in Parliament (the resignation of Joe Hibbert and the holding of a by-election).

At some point the Prime Minister should consider whether he wanted to govern Jamaica so he could make the island safe for the rule of the dons, and ensure that the likes of Kern Spencer and Joseph Hibbert can sit in Parliament no matter how corrupt they are……..

And we, the voters, have to consider if sort-of-free-health-care and sort-of-free-education are enough reason to allow this deeply disappointing government to serve out a full term……..

Related posts

• Reading between the lines with Lorna Golding (and Dudus Coke) (4)
• Hurricane season : ‘Dudus’ Coke heads north ? (118)

The big guy loves President Hugo Chavez :-

Venezuela finds vast gas reserve

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Then, just as things seemed to be winding down to the usual end of summer back-to-school, money-have-to-spend and government-and teachers-must-quarrel, the U.S. authorities are treating us to a whirlwind of scandal, gossip and gambling by requesting that the JLP government of Bruce Golding render up JLP and Tivoli Gardens strongman, Christopher “Dudus” Coke unto the U.S. justice system, well known for eating up Jamaica’s bad men and spitting them out again five or ten years later, no harm done.

Christopher “Dudus”Coke and his Plantation Heights yard

So how good a story is the requested extradition of “Dudus” ? Let’s see how it breaks down:-

(1) “Dudus” father, Lester Lloyd Coke aka “Jim Brown” died in a fire in his cell on February 23, 1991. He was due to be removed to the U.S. to face trial the following day. Among those who remember “Jim Brown”, everyone has their favourite theory as to who ordered the death of “Jim Brown” – e.g. some say he committed suicide; some say Seaga ordered his death to conceal his ties to the JLP; some say he was killed by his cronies who had no doubt that he would sing like a bird once he was in a U.S. prison.

So, can “Dudus” even survive to face trial in the U.S. ? And if he is to die, who gives the order this time ? Someone in Columbia ? Someone in the U.S. ? Someone in the upper echelons of the present government ?

(2) The history of the extradition treaty between Jamaica and the U.S. since 1991 is basically about JLP dons and a PNP government. Will things be different now that “Dudus’” M.P. and the M.P. for West Kingston is Bruce Golding, the Prime Minister of Jamaica?

(3) Why is “Dudus” Coke’s lawyer, JLP Senator Tom Tavares-Finson, sounding hesitant and unsure of his ground when discussing the matter with the pro-government team at Nationwide radio ?

Where is the brash, arrogant, take-no-prisoners Tom Tavares- Finson that we have come to know (if not to love )?

Can the JLP Senator be worrying that his client’s case is all too similar to that of Norris “Deedo” Nembhard (designated a drug kingpin by George Bush, Nembhard was extradited to the U.S. in 2008, and subsequently convicted on various charges) ? Is he worried that “Dudus” will suffer the same fate as Leebert Ramcharan ?

Senator Tom Tavares-Finson

(4) Many, many times over the years we have heard that Jamaican criminals in U.S. prisons were going to sing like birds. Remember when Vivian Blake was going to ensure that dozens of Jamaican politicians and “well known businessmen” were discredited, arrested, extradited to the U.S.? Going to rot forever in an American jail ?

Instead, a mere 9 years after he received 28 years in prison, Vivian Blake is back home in Jamaica .

(5) “Dudus” has supposedly got cover from “his” government. Under the PNP, this kind of “harassment” was par for the course. Nowadays, “Dudus” is a respectable businessman who is rewarded for his loyalty in the usual manner: a few government contracts here and there.

So, what will his “coverage” be worth ? Can Prime Minister Golding really hide “Dudus” from the U.S. authorities behind his government’s skirts ?

(6) The unofficial bookmakers are taking very big bets.

What are the odds on Christopher “Dudus” Coke being extradited alive to the U.S. ? 10 to 1 ? Or more like 100 to 1 ?

What are the odds on his extradition being delayed by the Senator? For one year ? For at least four years ?

So, what’s your take on this ? Where are you putting your money ?

Related posts

• Why are we waiting, Prime Minister Golding? (2)
• Reading between the lines with Lorna Golding (and Dudus Coke) (4)

I suppose it’s not very surprising that a British dictionary would “forget” to mention that the Maroons defeated the British twice !

Go deh, Mike !

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