PNP wants civil society to join demand for Wheatley's removal

The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) says it is prepared to take its call for the removal of Dr Andrew Wheatley from the Cabinet to church and civil society groups.

The PNP first called for Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness to relieve Wheatley of his portfolio responsibility for science, technology, and special projects on Wednesday after the Integrity Commission ruled that the Cabinet minister be charged with illicit enrichment and other corruption-related crimes.

The IC is the country’s main anti-corruption body.

The ruling by the IC’s Director of Corruption Prosecution follows the release of a report by Kevon Stephenson, Director of Investigation at the IC, which concluded, among other things, that over a nine-year period ending in 2022, Wheatley had approximately $164 million in assets that were disproportionate to his lawful sources of income.

The IC’s top corruption prosecutor also ruled that Wheatley, the Member of Parliament for St Catherine South Central, is to be charged with knowingly making a false statement in his statutory declarations for the periods 2013 to 2017 and 2018 to 2022, and failing, without reasonable cause, to provide information requested by the IC’s Director of Information and Complaints.

Senior PNP figures repeated their call for Wheatley’s sacking during a press conference at the Opposition Leader's Office today.

"How we escalate it is by reaching out to other organisations in society with whom we have regular dialogue,” PNP President Mark Golding told journalists during the press conference.

“Sometimes people are remarkably distracted from public affairs, you know. They operate in their own silos of life. They're focused on business or whatever it is, and it takes a little time for them to digest a situation like this,” he reasoned.

However, he noted that Holness, as prime minister, has the power to immediately remove Wheatley from the Cabinet.

“No doubt, he is considering what to do. They are, we are told, close friends and so on. But that's neither here nor there in the scheme of things. What really matters is Jamaica's reputation, our image internationally and locally, and upholding the rule of law and decency in public life,” Golding said.

He said Holness has a responsibility to lead in that regard and cannot continue to embrace somebody in his Cabinet who has these serious charges pending against him.

“So, I am hoping that others will see the need for the status quo to change. If we want Jamaica to become a stronger society, to attract more investment from sources that are reputable and with whom we would like to do business, we can't allow our state of affairs in government to degenerate in a serious way like this,” he said.

The Opposition Leader said he does not “think” that there is a legal basis to say that Wheatley should resign as the MP for St Catherine South Central “because of the fact that he's facing these criminal charges.”

He acknowledged, too, that the prime minister is constrained under Jamaican law from removing Wheatley as an MP.

“On the other hand, the voters who voted for him may not have been aware that this investigation was hanging over him, and many of them may feel uncomfortable being represented by somebody who is facing those criminal charges. So, he has a decision to make on that,” Golding said.

Noting that Jamaica does not have provisions in the Constitution to recall a lawmaker, the Opposition Leader said the situation with Wheatley reinforces the need for recall provisions.

He said this is something he has been advocating for and insisted that it should be part of the constitutional reform arrangements lawmakers are contemplating.

“So that, you know, citizens who have reason to want to change their mind about who represents them have an opportunity to do so without having to wait for the end of the current five-year electoral cycle,” Golding said.

- Livern Barrett

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