Bruce pays big

After nine months pregnant with anticipation, and a defiant Prime Minister Bruce Golding adamant that the United States administration had not provided sufficient information to deliver Christopher 'Dudus' Coke to face the grand jury, Golding turned tail on May 17. He instructed the signing of the said document that is to begin the extradition process. But that about-face came too late to change the minds of most Jamaicans who believe the Coke issue, like an abnormal foetus in inexperienced hands, was badly handled.

A Gleaner-commissioned public-opinion poll conducted by Bill Johnson late April and early May shows that six in every 10 Jamaicans disagreed with how Golding and his band of merry men and women handled the extradition request.

The poll found that the Government's nine-month dilly-dallying over the request could come back to haunt the Golding administration, as the vast majority of the uncommitted - most of the People's National Party (PNP) supporters and half the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters - disagreed with how the process was handled.

According to the poll - conduc-ted a little more than two weeks before Golding told the nation that the extradition request would be signed - 33 per cent of Jamaicans disapproved with how the request was handled, while 24 per cent strongly disagreed.

"Of the respondents who said they would vote for the JLP, 38 per cent disapproved of how the extradition was handled, while of those who said they would vote for the PNP, 72 per cent disapproved," Johnson reported.

"But what was even more ominous for the Government is that 70 per cent of the uncommitted disapproved with how the matter was handled," added Johnson.

Only nine per cent of the respondents gave the Golding administration strong backing for its action, while another 15 per cent said they approved of the process.

Support not solid

And that support was not even solid from persons who said they would vote for the JLP in the next general election.

"Half of the persons who said they would vote for the JLP said they approved of the action. Fifteen per cent of those said they would vote for the PNP and 13 per cent of the uncommitted also approved," said Johnson.

Even those who gave the Government the thumbs up and accepted its numerous explanations for the delay in signing the extradition request expressed fear about the possible repercussions to Jamaica if the extradition request was not signed.

The poll found that eight in every 10 Jamaicans were concerned that the United States would take strong action against Jamaica if the alleged drug dealer and gunrunner was not sent to America to face the music.

"I think it is amazing that 80 per cent of the people would think that," said Johnson.

Many Jamaicans have expressed concern that a rash of visa cancellations by the US at the height of the extradition controversy was related to the Government's stance, but that has been denied by the American authorities.

The pollster found no connection between the visa cancellations and the fear expressed by Jamaicans about the possible actions by the US.

Golding has gone to great lengths to try to convince the world that the delay in putting pen to paper was not an attempt to protect Dudus, a long-time and influential Labour Party supporter, but the administration has provided wavering explanations on what led to its about-face.

"I crave your understanding. The Government has never refused, never refused, the request for the extradition of Christopher Coke," Golding told the nation on May 17 when he announced that the extradition request would finally be signed.

"(The Government) has simply asked the US authorities to provide additional information that would enable the (justice) minister to issue the authorisation in compliance with the terms of the treaty," added Golding.

But in that public broadcast, Golding admitted that the Coke matter had caused widespread destabilisation and fears across Jamaican society, most emblematic in the shutdown of the city, spurred by rumours, on May 17 as panicky commuters rushed home early.

The prime minister also conceded in Parliament on June 1 that he trod carefully when the extradition request first came because of concerns that Coke's loyalists would have imperilled attempts to secure a standby loan with the International Monetary Fund.

The justice minister finally signed the extradition request days after the prime minister's announcement, but efforts to arrest Coke or to get him to surrender have so far failed.

Coke is now the subject of a massive all-island search after eluding a dragnet set up by the security forces during a bloody incursion into his fortified Tivoli Gardens enclave.