Jamaica's
Golding open to 'unity government'
By Juhel Browne
Trinidad Express
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
09 16 07
Jamaica's newly-appointed Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, said yesterday he
is convinced his ruling party alone cannot effectively govern the country without
the help of the Opposition People's National Party (PNP).
As such, Golding has expressed his desire to have
what could be described as a unity government,
as his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won Jamaica's
general election on September 3 by a slim six-seat
majority out of the 60 seats in the parliament.
Golding told reporters at the Crowne Plaza hotel
in Port of Spain yesterday that this unified approach
to governance in Jamaica was part of the JLP's
manifesto long before last month's election.
"Now I'm awaiting the formal appointment
of a Leader of the Opposition-which hadn't been
done, certainly not up to when I left home this
morning-and once that is done I am going to engage
in that sort of conversation," Golding said.
Golding made the comments during a break at the
Caricom regional summit on chronic non-communicable
diseases (NCDs) at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Port
of Spain.
The JLP won 33 of the 60 seats in Jamaica's House
of Representatives while the PNP, which had been
in government for the last 18 years, won 27.
The PNP is led by Portia Simpson-Miller who, until
September 3, had been Jamaica's first female Prime
Minister.
She had been appointed to the post 18 months ago
after Jamaica's then Prime Minister PJ Patterson
left the job.
Golding said he wants to see an end to the kind
of division that has long dominated Jamaica's politics
and his government plans a reform of the nation's
parliamentary system to allow for a greater participation
by Opposition members.
"It's an approach of engagement (with) us
saying: now, look the future of this country now
rests in two pairs of hands, yours and mine; now
these hands can either engage in hand-to-hand combat
or we can join those hands together to build this
country," Golding said.
He said it is in this context that the JLP's proposals
to reform the operations of Jamaica's Parliament
are significant.
"We are going to ensure that all the standing
committees of Parliament are chaired by an Opposition
member, as has been the tradition with the Public
Accounts Committee," he said.
Golding
also added: "The appointment of critical
posts such as the Chief Justice, the Director of
Public Prosecutions, the appointment of those persons
will require approval by a two thirds majority
in each House."
Trinidad
Express
Sunday, September 16th 2007
Copyright
©2007 Trinidad
Express . All Rights Reserved.
