Questionable Conduct: The Jamaican Political Reality

 The recent outpouring of consternation about the financial  costs being incurred by the Tivoli Commission Of Enquiry is understandable in the context of competing national priorities. These  are being neglected, in part, due to financial constraints imposed upon and by the Ministry of Finance in conjunction with the International monetary Fund (IMF). The Minister Of Justice, Senator Mark Golding, has stated on radio ( "This Morning" on Nationwide ) that "close to a $1 billion" has already been spent, primarily by the Ministry Of Labour & Social Security, in the aftermath of the Tivoli incursion/siege. Member of Parliament, Desmond McKenzie, has refuted that amount ; countering that the "sum of $100 million" was the amount tabled in a report to the Parliament by the Minister of Labour & Social Security. Now there is a world of difference between the amounts being stated as having been spent on Tivoli Gardens residents by the JLP Administrat...

  The Objection The following excerpts of an article written by Balfour Henry, February 2002, seem to form the basis of the objection led by the Member of Parliament for Western Kingston, Desmond McKenzie:   Excerpt #1   "Miss Hylton also submitted that the security forces had the right to fire on women and children allegedly shielding gunmen during the July 7-10 operation   "If the police and the rest of the security forces had not taken action, to repel force with force that day, I say again, at this point in time, we may still have been shovelling up pieces of bodies in West Kingston," she said.   Referring to the evidence that women "dressed in night wear" and "children as young as six to 12" formed a human shield for gunmen, she commented, "I do not understand the logic behind saying to both the police and soldiers, that because there are women and children in front of the gunmen they cannot fire. "In my respe...