More power to Christie - Golding gives OCG constitutional nod
Published:Sunday | November 14, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
PRIME MINISTER Bruce Golding said yesterday that his administration was moving to give the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) constitutional backing.
Addressing G2K members at their annual general meeting at Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) headquarters, Belmont Road, yesterday, the prime minister also vowed to introduce many of the big-ticket items in his party's 2007 election manifesto next year. Many of these items were apparently slowed down by what he referred to as "distractions" in the last year.
"We are going to put him in the Constitution so that he will now have constitutional recognition and authority," Golding declared.
At the same time, he said his administration would introduce fit and proper requirements for persons applying for government contracts.
"There are certain types of organisations and individuals that are going to be considered not suitable to be awarded government contracts."
Golding said Cabinet approved a new government-procurement policy last week. According to Golding, the new government-procurement handbook would be a legal document. "It is going to move from guidelines to give it legal force. We are going to make it a criminal offence for persons to breach certain provisions of the guidelines."
Golding told the G2K members that in the last year, there were many things that distracted the administration from its core responsibilities.
He mentioned the global economic meltdown which affected many economies, including Jamaica's. The Christopher 'Dudus' Coke extradition saga - which eventually led to the Tivoli Gardens incursion by the security forces in which 73 persons died - also occupied much of the administration's time as the party rushed to "out fires".
The Manatt, Phelps & Phillips debacle also left the JLP in a tailspin this year as the party struggled to fend off a chorus of condemnation from many sector groups in relation to the prime minister's handling of the matter.
"We, this year, had to deal with a whole range of controversies that in a sense distracted us, diverted attention, diverted our own energies, and we spent a lot of time this year responding to sensational issues that quite frankly, didn't help the country to move one inch further than where it was, but these were issues that we had to deal with," Golding said.
grass-roots reconnection
Concluding its third year in office in September, Golding told the young-professional arm of the JLP that beginning early next year, the party would have to hit the ground running to reconnect with its grass roots.
He suggested that this was critical as many incumbencies had been toppled from government by the electorate in a number of countries in recent times.
Golding encouraged the group to work with him as the party moved to renew its commitments, which were set out in its 2007 manifesto to the people of Jamaica.
"We face this year, and we will face next year, a particular type of challenge that is not unique to us, and that is the challenge of incumbency, particularly incum-bency at a time when virtually every government across the world is swimming against the tide."
The prime minister also mentioned that a bill to establish a special prosecutor would be passed into law shortly.