Bruce Golding's foolish statement -- once again

Dear Editor,

It is distressing to hear Mr. Bruce Golding once again saying that what happened in Tivoli could not have been avoided. That is ABSOLUTELY not true. First of all, if Golding had not tried to prevent the extradition of Coke, he could have been taken into custody without a shot being fired long before the mayhem broke loose.

Secondly, there was no need for the wanton extrajudicial killings by the security forces. Golding either spoke to the residents as to what happened or he did not. If he has not spoken to them, then shame on him, he should have resigned as representative for the area long before resigning as prime minister. If he did speak to them, then there is no way he can continue to make that self-serving statement.

The real purpose of the statement, however, is to absolve himself of responsibility for the bloodshed and the destruction of property and the abuse of civil liberties. Golding signed off on a state of emergency for which there was no need; he had ministerial responsibility for the army – and the residents would have given him accounts of the army’s criminal behaviour. As prime minister, MP for the area, and head of the Defence Board, he shared command responsibility for the conduct of the security forces. Was he aware of extrajudicial killings taking place? Did any of his constituents ever call him to tell him what was going on? Did he try to put a stop to it? Did he demand and accept reports from the heads of the security forces in terms of how the operation was carried out? Or was it that he just didn’t care?

These are crucial questions Mr Golding needs to answer and until they are answered satisfactorily it is my view that he has to be investigated for having participated in crimes against humanity. Such a charge and concept might be foreign to the Jamaican judicial system but it has been defined by the International Criminal Court.

Maybe Mr. Golding should do some research before he makes another such foolish statement.

Lloyd D’Aguilar
Campaign for Social and Economic Justice