Scotiabank lawsuit won’t spark PNP funding fallout, says Golding
Published:Monday | August 1, 2022 | 12:12 AM
President of the People’s National Party, Mark Golding, has dismissed suggestions that the lawsuit filed by anti-fee crusader Fitz Jackson against Scotiabank could trigger a fallout in campaign funding.
Jackson, opposition member of parliament for St Catherine Southern, is challenging the legality of the Canada-headquartered bank’s cheque-encashment charge levied on customers.
Former PNP General Secretary Paul Burke said last week that individual candidates who previously benefited from support from financial institutions might find themselves without “significant” funding, but he believes the moral principle is “worth the punishment”.
But Golding, on the sidelines of a National Executive Council meeting Sunday, said he is not worried.
“The truth of the matter is that my experience as a former treasurer of the party is that the banks tend to fund parties during the election campaigns and they typically do it on an equal basis between both parties.
Modern approach
“That has been the modern approach that they have used, and I don’t anticipate any bank in Jamaica taking an adverse stance against us on the basis of us going to the courts to see whether or not the way in which the fees have been charged is lawful,” Golding, who is also opposition leader, told The Gleaner.
Golding said that commercial banks have to operate within a legal framework and should appreciate any attempt to test the validity of their practices. He clarified that while the PNP was not against bank fees, he said he was against the “unlimited and widespread” application of extremely high” fees.
Meanwhile, the PNP president said that progress has been made on the proposal of widening party membership to the diaspora even if those expatriates are not on the voters’ list.
“We established a subcommittee to look at the nuts and bolts of what that would mean in terms of things that would deal with voters’ rights and issues of that nature. They have submitted that report. We are consulting with the diaspora groups that have indicated their interest in this, and so it is a work in progress,” said Golding.
He anticipates that the final resolution will be presented at the party’s annual conference in September or the subsequent NEC meeting. The PNP leader also revealed that the annual conference will also see the dissemination of the party’s revised ideology and principles for the 21st century.
On Sunday, members of the NEC discussed Professor Anthony Bogues’ report, which sought to elaborate on the current application of the party’s ideology. In the past, the PNP has been criticised for not articulating a clear policy and governance principles that are consistent with the party’s philosophy.
In Golding’s view, the enthusiastic discussion surrounding the report is the first step in energising the party and rebuilding optimism among its members.