(Jamaica Gleaner) Pressure mounted on Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Monday as an umbrella group representing a wide cross-section of Church leaders requested a meeting with him to discuss Sunday’s bombshell email revelations in the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips affair.
Convenor of the group, the Reverend Lenworth Anglin, said there was no word from the Office of the Prime Minister up to late Monday afternoon.
“The greatest area of concern for the Church is the matter of integrity and trust. Has the prime minister declared all that he knew …?” Anglin asked.
“If he has declared all that he knew, then we can’t hold him for anything else, but we are not so sure, based on what was published (Sunday), what is the true position,” he told The Gleaner.
Anglin said members of the group were on alert and would announce their next move shortly after the meeting with Golding.
“We are interested in getting all the facts … to get all the evidence and that’s why we want to talk directly to the prime minister,” he added.
Email proof
On the weekend, The Sunday Gleaner published the contents of several email correspondence among Solicitor General Douglas Leys, attorney-at-law Harold Brady and officials of United States-based law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, confirming that the firm was working on behalf of the Jamaican Government, even if it was engaged by the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
In a statement to Parliament in April, Golding admitted he sanctioned the retention of Manatt on the condition that it was “undertaken by the party, not by or on behalf of the Government.”
However, the emails, which were obtained by The Sunday Gleaner under the Access to Information Act, also indicate that Golding and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne were updated at intervals on the discussions.
Following his apology to the nation in May, Golding also met with several church leaders and laid out a timeline for the implementation of several measures.
Anglin said his group was “literally holding him (Golding) accountable to those commitments, especially as they relate to a new form of governance”.
He added: “We are talking about trust, truthfulness and the kind of integrity that is needed for the effective governance of the country at a time like this,” he said.
