Dudus Affair –Civil Society Wins Round One

Whew! Prime Minister Bruce Golding has finally dumped the fake Craven A he has been smoking for the last couple of months. With his thought process now clearer, he has instructed Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne to sign the warrant for the extradition of Christopher “Dudus” Coke to the United States to be tried for alleged drug and gun trafficking.

The bad cigarette Mr Golding was smoking clouded his judgement, causing him to stubbornly refuse the win-win advice to put the extradition matter before the courts, as well as giving him a split personality that made him act properly as the Jamaica Labour Party leader while simultaneously acting improperly as Prime Minister.

Now that the smoke has cleared Mr Golding correctly sees the court as the proper place to settle the Coke extradition case. Whatever the verdict, Jamaicans are willing to abide by the rule of law. That was the issue at stake all the time for the majority of Jamaicans, but the PM was fixated on the trees instead of the forest. His concern that Mr Coke’s constitutional right might be breached would automatically be addressed by the judicial process.

Civil society, PNP, JLP and no P, you and me played our part in pushing back against the attempt by the political directorate to fatally corrupt the state. We have sat back for too long and allowed things to get out of hand. Alas, the apparent attempt to ‘lowjack’ the state by alleged criminal network aroused us out of our complacency. Furthermore, people are dying like flies daily by the gun in Jamaica!

This is only the beginning of the struggle for possession of the soul of the Jamaican state; we cannot relax our hold on the rope because our beloved country is still near the edge of the precipice, and could still slip into a narco state. Let’s push Mr Golding to implement the governance reform agenda he reiterated in his address to the nation last night.

And, yes, somebody has to keep watch on what he is smoking. We can’t have him embarking on any more adventures in his multiple political roles as MP, Party Leader and Prime Minister.