GOLDING

Today we present the continuation of excepts from Opposition Leader Bruce Golding's extensive interview with Earl Moxam.

Earl Moxam: What concerns you most about the tenure of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, so far?

Bruce Golding: The lack of direction. The fact that she has failed to define her prime ministership; because her prime ministership has to be about more than just dipping into the Housing Trust and dipping into the National Insurance Fund. People sort of knew where Mr. Patterson was headed. People clearly knew where Mr. Manley was headed, even though some of us were fearful of that direction. People knew where Mr. Seaga was going, even those who disagreed with his direction and his approach. Secondly, you continue to hear and to see signs that there is no cohesiveness in terms of the management of the country's affairs. You know, there was a rumour ... and I know the rumour (about Finance Minister Omar Davies resigning) has been denied, but it is an open secret that the comfort level that is required to make a government function (is absent).There are so many things that have to be done in government that involve collaboration among ministers and it has to be collaboration that is rooted in an acceptance and recognition of the fact that you are team players.

Are you saying she is not up to the job?

I can't make that judgement. She's only been there a few months. What I'm saying is that we are not seeing it and I believe that people are making judgements about it.

Is she wrong-footing you? Is it that you find it so difficult to define what she is doing and the particular areas on which to attack her? Would you have found it easier to critique and criticise somebody else?

No, I think it is early days yet. Everybody needs their apprentice-ship period; some people need a longer apprenticeship than others. It doesn't mean that at the end of that apprenticeship, however extended it might be, that the apprentice would have learnt. I think people are waiting to see what difference she has made. Which comes back to the question of how has she defined her prime ministership that is peculiar to her? ... And bear in mind that her government has not faced any major crisis yet. People wonder sometimes if we do face a crisis what would happen. If there was a crisis in terms of our economic programme that required tough decisions, are those decisions capable of being reconciled with the image that she has built up for herself? As Mr. Seaga reminded us, it takes cash to care!

What are you going to do about Parliament - the physical facility - if you are elected?

I don't believe the decision about Parliament can be a unilateral decision. I don't believe that either the PNP or the JLP, whichever is in government, ought really to make that decision. It really has to be a bi-partisan decision. I have indicated that I'm strongly opposed to relocating Parliament. That particular intersection of Duke Street and Beeston Street has been the seat of our Parliament since the 19th century. There was Headquarters House, which we have not done justice to because I think it should have become more than just a heritage site, but should have become a place that we maintain as a living museum. We need to expand Parliament. What I propose is that we acquire the lands adjoining parliament - on the west and east and the north ... the lands bordered by Charles Street to the north; Mark Lane to the west, and John's Lane to the east, with Beeston Street, and develop a new Parliament complex straddling Duke Street. And I think it would be a good idea to have traffic passing through the parliamentary structure. I don't like the idea of isolating parliament and keeping it away from the people.

Allied to that, what are you going to do to halt the slide in downtown Kingston in terms of the economy of the place; the social infrastructure, etc.?

Firstly, I think you need a comprehensive redesign of down-town. The business of doing a little thing here and a little thing over there can't work. You need to see the big picture - This is the downtown Kingston that we are seeking to recreate! Secondly, you have to put back some of the critical functioning institutions downtown. If you notice, government has fled downtown! All the ministries now have to move to New Kingston and the appurtenances of New Kingston. We need to put it back down there, which is why I'm so opposed to Gordon House moving, because if you move parliament out of downtown Kingston, that would be the last of it. Thirdly, we want to tie in that redesign of downtown with the proposal that Mr. Seaga had put forward, which I am determined to implement, for that Freeport facility at Fort Augusta, tied in with the redevelopment of Port Royal for cruise shipping and so on.

The whole of it has to be integrated. We would bring in all the professionals required to begin working on it as soon as we take office. Get that big picture; that vision created, because only then will you be able to market it and say to businesses that downtown is where the action is. Look at what has happened to Harlem in New York for example. My son lived in Harlem and told me that it got to a stage that he had to leave (despite the fact that he loved it there) because he could no longer live there because property values had quadrupled in the space of two years. (Bill) Clinton went down there and set up his office and so on. So, it is something that can be done and I want to move on it.