SACKED!

While welcoming Everald Warmington’s resignation from the Cabinet on Thursday, one accountability advocate is urging Prime Minister Andrew Holness to revisit his 2016 election pledge that would allow for the impeachment of public officials for matters such as the pronouncements made by the former member of the executive.

“I am disappointed that the communication to the nation did not contain the prime minister’s own views and position and did not contain a very clear statement of what his expectations were and would be going forward,” Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP) Executive Director Jeanette Calder told The Gleaner.

A terse statement from the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday said: “Today, I met with Mr Warmington, Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation. At the meeting, I received his resignation from the Cabinet.”

“We believe that would be a fitting way to underscore his commitment to raising the bar on accountability,” Calder told The Gleaner.

Warmington’s declaration that he would not channel public funds to People’s National Party (PNP) councillor-elect Dr Kurt Waul in the Old Harbour South Division in his constituency triggered public outcry and calls for his resignation.

An impeachment bill was tabled by Opposition Leader Mark Golding in 2021, but to date, the legislative measure has not been debated by Parliament.

The JAMP head called on the prime minister to take another step to honour the 2016 campaign commitment by facilitating national and parliamentary debate on the impeachment bill to approve the proposed statute before the current parliamentary term ends in 2025.

SERIAL OFFENDER

For years, Warmington has lashed out at journalists and public officials using crude and abusive language to describe individuals who engage him on issues.

“Warmington is a serial offender and has squandered and wasted every bit of grace and every bit of clemency that Jamaicans and his leaders over the years extended to him with the many instances of disrespect and contempt that he has shown. He has wasted all of them,” Calder said.

She said that JAMP is satisfied that Warmington, who previously indicated that he would not run for a seat in the next general election, will no longer be presiding over public goods and services that are delivered under the portfolio of works in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

Calder added that should Warmington change his mind on exiting representational politics, Holness – the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party – should signal that his action this week disqualified him from participating.

Jamaica’s Integrity Commission yesterday said its board will discuss a recent statement by Warmington at its next meeting on March 4.

“The matter regarding recent utterances by the former Minister responsible for Works about withholding funds from an opposition councillor will be discussed at the next board meeting of the Integrity Commission.”

The commission said the matter has been placed on the agenda as it concerns the integrity of a parliamentarian and relates to the governance of the country.

Board Chairman Justice (Ret’d) Seymour Panton noted that despite the resignation, the issue will remain on the agenda as the commission cannot stay silent on the matter.

Calder, at the same time, said she was satisfied with the decision of Golding in disqualifying Dennis Meadows as the People’s National Party’s (PNP) potential candidate for Trelawny Northern for his endorsement of lottery scamming at a political rally.

According to Calder, the pronouncements by Meadows could not be addressed by an apology.

“We think it was a full-throated justification and promotion of theft, deception and criminality and an apology cannot undo the damage that was done.”

In a news release yesterday, Golding said that Meadows’ continuation as the candidate was untenable, given that scamming is one of Jamaica‘s most serious national security challenges.

“Let this precedent be a warning to all who serve in the PNP under my leadership. We are demanding higher standards of accountability. Jamaica will no longer tolerate weak, unprincipled leaders who say one thing but do another. Jamaicans deserve better, and I will give it to them,” Golding said.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com

Warmington’s legacy of controversy

· On March 8, 2011, Warmington told CVM TV news anchor Kerlyn Brown to “go to hell” when he was asked to respond to a question about his reasons for remaining a member of the House of Representatives since 2007, despite knowing his pledge of allegiance to a foreign country had made him an unfit candidate.

· In August 2015, the St Catherine South Western MP manhandled a female Gleaner intern and directed his fury at a colleague journalist who reprimanded him for his action as they covered a meeting of the then opposition Jamaica Labour Party’s caucus. He later apologised and blamed his action on medication he was taking at the time.

· Within a week, he was at it again, flipping the bird to journalists at the party’s New Kingston headquarters while wearing a neck brace.

· In 2016, Warmington twice referred to then-Government Member Lisa Hanna as “a Jezebel” during a sitting of the House of Representatives. A Jezebel is a term interpreted to mean a heartless, conniving woman.

· In 2018, a female reporter from Business Access TV called Warmington to get a comment on a strike by Jamaican workers employed to China Harbour Engineering Company, which was carrying out a government project. “Don’t call me and ask me any damn nonsense. If there is a strike, you speak to contractor and worker, don’t call me.” When the reporter attempted to continue her question, Warmington shouted at her, saying, “Don’t call me on my phone ... . Get off my phone!”

· In May 2021 Warmington, in a video circulated widely on social media, lashed out at the police with a profanity-laced tirade outside the Old Harbour Bay Fisherman Co-operative building during curfew hours in the height of COVID-19. Warmington was irate about the police presence, insisting that he was exempted from the restrictions.

· In May 2023, Warmington engaged in a heated exchange with the PNP caretaker for the Fellowship division in Portland, Collin Bell, after insisting that he should not accompany him on a tour of that section of the constituency. Warmington argued that he does not tour with caretaker-candidates. “You don’t follow my tour. Caretakers are not recognised in the Constitution of Jamaica,” he said.

· In June 2023, Warmington declared that Jamaica’s anti-corruption agency, the Integrity Commission, is a “rogue organisation” and “must be reined in”.