Please read our previous post, here, as it gives a background to the following:
Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in a message to the nation tonight, informed the nation that Justice Minister, Dorothy Lightbourne, will sign the extradition request for Tivoli strongman, Christopher "Dudus" Coke.
However, this does not mean that Mr. Coke will be immediately extradited to the USA. We understand that Mr. Coke's lawyer, Tom Tavares-Finson, will be going to court, here in Jamaica, to try to fight the extradition request.
Background
From August of last year, the USA has wanted Mr. Coke to answer to alleged drug charges, there...charges they laid against him based on information they had obtained from an informant and wire-tapping done by members of the Jamaican Police Force.
Accordingly, the USA had sent an extradition request to Jamaica, for Mr. Coke, which the Government of Jamaica refused to sign, saying that wire-tapping was illegal in Jamaica and that the US had insufficient evidence to extradite Mr. Coke.
In apparent retaliation, the USA revoked the visa of prominent businessman, Wayne Chen and four (4) prominent DJs and did not appoint an ambassador to Jamaica.
(It is rumored that the visas of other prominent business persons had been revoked).
Then came the bombshell question by Opposition Member of Parliament - Peter Phillips, two (2) months ago, re a prominent US-based law firm - Mannatt, Phelps and Phillips who claimed that the Government of Jamaica had contracted them as consultants re US Extradition Treaty matters.
After dodging the involvement of the Jamaican government with Mannatt, Phelps and Phillips, Prime Minister (PM), Bruce Golding, on May 11,2010, finally admitted that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) had approached Mannatt, Phelps and Phillips to help in extradition treaty matters regarding the Tivoli strongman.
Mr. Golding's approach was thought to be arrogant...as he used legalese to try to quiet further questions from Peter Phillips.
Following this, there were numerous calls for the PM to step down, as it was felt that he had lost his moral authority to lead. Moral authority and capital the people had vested in him, after he had promised that he would have been morally accountable to the Jamaican people, should he be elected as Prime Minister in the 2007 General Elections.
Tonight, his approach was everything but arrogant and he apologized to the nation and to Parliament, for not being forthright about his Party's connection with Mannatt, Phelps and Phillips.
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Well, I can tell you that a lot of Jamaicans breathed a collective sigh of relief tonight...because many were calling for the PM to resign or at least be penitent, over this whole matter.
There were meetings held among the JLP hierarchy over the weekend that signalled that something big would have happened in an announcement to the nation on Sunday.
But all that came was news that the PM would not resign. Then we heard that the PM should be speaking with nation later tonight.
From as early at 3:00 p.m, today, there were rumors being spread that the extradition request had been signed or was about to be signed...
...So much so that Downtown Kingston (which is said to be the strong-hold of Mr. Coke), was a ghost-town by 5:00 p.m., as businesses closed and sent their workers home, from as early as 3:30 p.m., as news spread that there would have been trouble.
The outgoing traffic from Downtown Kingston caused traffic-jams across the Corporate Area.
After all, it has been rumored that Mr. Coke has said that he will not go down without a fight.
The security forces, are however, making their presence felt, in Downtown Kingston.
Part 2 of this post will examine other statements that the PM made tonight...
Please stay tuned for this!
Gillian
Sources Include
1) Broadcast to the Nation, by Prime Minister Bruce Golding, CVM Television, May 17,2010
2) Analysis of Prime Minister Bruce Golding's Broadcast on Nationwide Radio, May 17,2010
3) Coverage of events in Downtown Kingston by Dervan Malcom, "Both Sides of the Story", Power 106 FM, May 17, 2010.
4) Statement, "JAMAICA - Statement by MP Dr. Peter Phillips on the Brady/Manatt Phelps Phillips Contract March 24, 2010", by Calvin G. Brown, CARICOM News network, March 24, 2010
