JMA, JEA, Mandeville ministers troubled about Dudus impasse

LEADERS of the manufacturing and export sectors, as well as the Mandeville Ministers Fraternal, have expressed concern about the lengthy stand-off between the governments of Jamaica and the United States over the extradition request for West Kingston strongman Christopher Dudus Coke and its possible effect on Brand Jamaica and efforts to sell Jamaican products overseas.

President of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) Omar Azan said every effort should be made to ensure that Jamaicas good name abroad is preserved.

Brand Jamaica is a very big name anywhere in the world and my fear is that this US/Jamaica extradition matter may have some effect. I hope that our Government and people realise how important it is to keep our name placed as high as possible. Anything we need to do so that our brand stays on top, we need to ensure our Government facilitates this, Azan told the Observer.

However, he said the extradition impasse is not being felt by the sector yet, despite rumours of the visas of wellknown business persons being cancelled.

Nothing has come to my attention, Azan said about the visa cancellations and their effect on plans for the JMA/Jamaica Exporters Association (JEA) expo scheduled for June 17 to 20 in Kingston.

Meanwhile, JEA president Vitus Evans reiterated the need for the extradition matter to be resolved as amicably as possible.

The sooner that this is brought to some conclusion to the satisfaction of all, the better it will be for the business sector to feel more relaxed going forward, Evans told the Observer.

The JEA president said he had heard about the cancellation of visas of prominent private sector individuals but was heartened by the Governments statement that they were unconnected to the extradition issue.

The USA is a major market and most of our business people have to go over there, but we are somewhat comforted that the Government has said there is no link between what is happening and the cancellation of visas, Evans said.

And the Mandeville Ministers Fraternal has also joined the chorus of voices imploring Prime Minister Bruce Golding to tread carefully with his handling of the extradition request.

In a release to the media, the ministers said the manner in which the matter is being handled has given cause for grave concern and urged Golding to let the issue be decided by the local judiciary.

The leaders and members of the Mandeville Ministers Fraternal implore the prime minister to step aside and yield to the wisdom and expertise of the judiciary of the country to settle the legal matters that are at the heart of the controversies surrounding this case. The right thing to do is to allow the court or any other legally authorised body to play its role so that justice may be seen to be done in an impartial and unbiased way, the ministers said.

Cokes extradition request was sent to the Jamaican Government in August last year and eight months later, no progress has been made. The US Attorneys Office has accused Coke of gun running and drug-smuggling charges and has requested that the Jamaican government send Coke to answer to the charges in that jurisdiction. But Golding has expressed his willingness to pay a political price for refusing to send Coke, on the grounds that evidence collected against Coke was unconstitutional.

But the churchmen from central Jamaica expressed concern that Cokes influence in the prime ministers garrison constituency of West Kingston and the fact that his attorney, Tom Tavares-Finson, is a Government senator, exposed a deep conflict of interest.

The ministers also expressed fear that the countrys reputation was being sullied by the Governments inaction.

Jamaicas international reputation is being seriously damaged by the way this case is being handled both by the Jamaican and American governments, the ministers said.

The ministers also questioned whether the Golding government was serious about guarding against human rights abuses or if the state was succumbing to pressure from the criminal underworld.

Many Jamaicans have a sense that the resolute stance of the Jamaican political directorate is perhaps not a genuine defence of the human rights of a Jamaican citizen but rather an expedient move influenced by the power of underground political forces, the ministers said.

Jamaica has been recently lambasted in a US narcotics report as being a corrupt state unwilling to nip the umbilical connection between politicians and gang members.

The fraternals concern is that this stance of our prime minister may do much to support the widely held view that our political parties have formed unhealthy alliances with the criminal underworld, the ministers added.