Driva, change the bus!

[Tuff Gong]

<span style='font-size: 20pt'>Driva, change the bus!</span>

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Dear Editor,

We are not living in ordinary times.
The continued display of idiocy by the PNP leadership, who take us all for fools, blaming Jamaica's problems on the brand-new JLP government - which inherited the running of Jamaica in the wake of 18 years of PNP destruction: corruption, waste and mismanagement - would be really funny if it wasn't so serious.

And while those lunatics in the PNP are quickly trying to spin away their scandals and crucify Bruce Golding, Bruce himself is busily trying his best to keep key PNP appointees in their positions to sabotage his administration.

Bruce Golding has become a victim of himself when he kept the PNP-appointed chairperson of the Public Service Commission who immediately gave him a solicitor general whom he does not want and cannot work with.
What did the new prime minister think he was doing? Is he playing goody goody, nice boy'?

On September 3, 2007, the voters realised that Jamaica had to change course and made the change from a record 18 years of wretched PNP reign.

The people of the land expected, anticipated and wanted spring cleaning to be done - immediate personnel changes; audits and possible arrests in certain critical ministries and state organisations; and the restoration of law and order, and economic recovery/growth.

But what has our new 'driva' done? He seems more interested in driving the same old 'mash up', 'bruck dung' PNP bus, as he has retained many of the old comrades in some very critical and sensitive areas of government.

Is Mr Golding doing this in the best interest of Jamaica, or is this simply his style of running our affairs? What did he think the term "changing course" meant during the recent election campaign? Or what did he mean when he used the term?

How can we continue to run these important aspects of the management of our country with the same set of persons who have helped to get us in the mess we are in? And do we expect a different result with only Cabinet and prime ministerial changes... a new driver of a defective bus?
I am deeply concerned. Wake up, Bruce!

Mandy Black
Kingston 10

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/h...GE_THE_BUS_.asp

[Dyoll_73]

Re: Driva, change the bus!

Bruce Golding's disapproval of Vacianni is already being viewed as the result of a 'falling out' between the two men - the latter was a key player in the Golding-led National Democratic Movement. He did make some scathing statements about Golding in the media. He criticised Golding, for instance, for returning to the JLP but had no problems, himself, going back to join his comrades and fellow travellers in the PNP. I think Golding may have just cause in not wanting him to the position of Solicitor General. Afterall, the Solicitor General is the 'government's lawyer' and is expected to be a zealous advocate of the Government's position whenever the government is a party in a case before the courts. Can Vacianni be counted on to do so?

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Driva, change the bus!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dyoll_73</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Bruce Golding's disapproval of Vacianni is already being viewed as the result of a 'falling out' between the two men - the latter was a key player in the Golding-led National Democratic Movement. He did make some scathing statements about Golding in the media. He criticised Golding, for instance, for returning to the JLP but had no problems, himself, going back to join his comrades and fellow travellers in the PNP. I think Golding may have just cause in not wanting him to the position of Solicitor General. Afterall, the Solicitor General is the 'government's lawyer' and is expected to be a zealous advocate of the Government's position whenever the government is a party in a case before the courts. Can Vacianni be counted on to do so?

</div></div>

Well this is a prime example of what I have been saying and what the letter writer has said in this letter to the Observer. Bruce must change the bus. If he had move swiftly, demolished the Old Bus and sold it off for scrap he would have been further down the road into putting the right team in place.

Carlton Davis, Dr. Davies Brother who had served the Comrades faithfully for over a decade and who inexplicably Bruce had kept on, was part of the decision recommendng Comrade Wash-vani, even though Dr. Davis was not an appointed member of the commission responsible for picking the AG.
Mi sarry fi Bruce!

[Dyoll_73]

Re: Driva, change the bus!

Shrewd politicians, upon gaining office, move early to consolidate their powers; the more statesmanlike ones do so within existing constitutional provisions. Some reforms proposals which would give more powers to the opposition (which Bruce had made when the JLP was in opposition, which he still supports now that he is in government) may be patriotic and selfless, but they may provide the ammunition to an opposition which, from all indications, is gearing up for obstructionism rather than constructive engagement. Ceding powers not currently provided for in the constitution to Sista P and her bunch of mostly obstructionists is based on the assumption that they are reasonable and are willing to put the interests of the nation above partisan considerations. You are right. He should have cleaned house from the very start. I see he is apparently comfortable with latty down at the BOJ, for instance.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Driva, change the bus!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dyoll_73</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Shrewd politicians, upon gaining office, move early to consolidate their powers; the more statesmanlike ones do so within existing constitutional provisions. Some reforms proposals which would give more powers to the opposition (which Bruce had made when the JLP was in opposition, which he still supports now that he is in government) may be patriotic and selfless, but they may provide the ammunition to an opposition which, from all indications, is gearing up for obstructionism rather than constructive engagement. Ceding powers not currently provided for in the constitution to Sista P and her bunch of mostly obstructionists is based on the assumption that they are reasonable and are willing to put the interests of the nation above partisan considerations. You are right. He should have cleaned house from the very start. I see he is apparently comfortable with latty down at the BOJ, for instance. </div></div>

I think Bruce needs to read Niccolò MachiavelliIl: Principe (The Prince) or From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000 By Kuan Yew Lee.
You can only be reasonable with persons who want to be reasonable, not as you point out with obstructionists such as the shattered, discredited PNP led by folks such as Sistah P and Danny Buck.

[neutral]

Re: Driva, change the bus!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dyoll_73</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Ceding powers not currently provided for in the constitution to Sista P and her bunch of mostly obstructionists is based on the assumption that they are reasonable and are willing to put the interests of the nation above partisan considerations. You are right. He should have cleaned house from the very start. I see he is apparently comfortable with latty down at the BOJ, for instance. </div></div>

But couldnt it also be that the JLP`s very slim majority mean that they have to work to an extent with the opposition.
I would imagine that mr Golding is in a very tight spot and has to be very shrewed in order to put his mandate through,which may mean working with people he would rather not.

But you are correct, politics being the way it is in Jamaica it will be interesting to observe if the PNP work constructively with the government in putting the country first above partisan interests,...mi no know how him an dem aggo work it out.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Driva, change the bus!


See this is my point if Bruce had changed the ole bus and sell the parts off for scrap the very day he came to office it would not have come to this:


<span style='font-size: 17pt'>Resign, or else...</span>
Golding, PSC deadlock over solicitor general search
BY ERICA VIRTUE Sunday Observer writer [email protected]
Sunday, November 18, 2007

IN a new twist to the search for a solicitor general of Jamaica, Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Friday night expressed no confidence in the five-member body of the Public Services Commission (PSC) and asked members for their voluntary resignations, failing which he will be writing to the governor general asking him to dissolve the body.

The Sunday Observer learnt that the members, stung by Golding's position, will be resigning.

Sources said their decision to quit followed a meeting at Vale Royal after the parties had failed to secure a consensus on their choice of Professor Stephen Vasciannie for the job as Solicitor General.

The commission and the government have reportedly been at odds since the body, which serves for five-year terms, recommended University of the West Indies' (UWI) Professor of International Law, Stephen Vasciannie, to be the new solicitor general.

Vasciannie, along with Patrick Foster and Douglas Leys, were the three applicants for the job, which became vacant when it became clear that Michael Hylton would not be returning to the post.

Impeccable sources told the Sunday Observer that Friday's meeting with the prime minister followed a prior meeting of the commission's membership, where they held firm to their recommendation for Vasciannie to get the job.
But Vasciannie, it is said, is not the choice of government and his recommendation has reportedly been resisted by the new administration.

Sources said Vasciannie does not enjoy the confidence of the prime minister, even though he served as spokesman on Foreign Affairs under Golding's stewardship of the National Democratic Movement (NDM).

Leys, the most experienced of the three applicants, and who was a senior deputy solicitor general prior to the ascension of Michael Hylton to the post four years ago, was the only candidate not recommended for the job.

Patrick Foster was the second choice.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, in a release late yesterday, described the reports as deeply troubling.

"The Leader of the Opposition has received a report that the prime minister has written to the governor general asking him to dissolve the Public Services Commission (PSC). If this news report is correct, that it is deeply troubling, for it raises serious constitutional issues," the release under the signature of the party's spokesperson on information Lisa Hanna said.

David Coore, who served in the Manley administration of the 1970s and was one of the framers of the Jamaica Constitution, said yesterday that the prime minister was within his rights.

"The prime minister is well within his rights if he has no confidence in the PSC, and tells that to the membership. But they are not obliged to resign just because the prime minister says so. What you do not want is any indication of any political interference," Coore told Sunday Observer.

The PSC, which is a provision of the Jamaican Constitution (Section 124), is a body consisting of not more than five members and not less than three, and are appointed by the governor general after recommendations from the prime minister, in consultation with the Opposition leader.

Amongst the PSC's composition is a nominee from the Jamaica Civil Service Association, the largest staff association in the Civil Service.

Neither Vasciannie's qualification, nor integrity is being questioned, "but he just does not have the confidence of the prime minister," a Sunday Observer source said.

The source believes the PSC should have ".had the decency to resign following the September elections, giving the prime minister a free hand to make his recommendations."

One key government official said, "Once the PM expresses no confidence in a public body it is almost impossible for them to function".

The PSC, which is chaired by actuary Daisy Coke, also includes Professor Edwin Jones, Mike Fennell and Pauline Findlay.

The late Dr George Phillip was a member.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20071117T000000-0500_129534_OBS_RESIGN__OR_ELSE____.asp