Yesterday’s announcement that embattled Westmoreland Central Member of Parliament (MP) George Wright had resigned from the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was not enough for former parliamentarians who have served the constituency, while Kevin O’Brien Chang believes the JLP now has the “moral upper hand”.
Wright has been under a cloud of controversy after a video emerged in April showing a man clobbering a woman. The police had sought Wright as a person of interest in the matter, but no charges were eventually laid by the cops, who cited the unwillingness of the parties to proceed with the matter and the inconclusive nature of the video.
Despite weeks of public backlash, Wright has remained silent, neither confirming nor denying that he was the man in the video.
While not sure of his guilt, Wright’s deafening silence has left many unconvinced of his innocence, with mounting calls for him to vacate his seat in the House of Representatives.
Yesterday’s announcement was immaterial to his position in the House, as he was already suspended from the JLP and was said to be an independent MP in the wake of the controversy.
Dr Karl Blythe, who served under a People’s National Party (PNP) banner as MP for Westmoreland Central between 1989 and 2007; and two-term PNP representative Dwayne Vaz, the man Wright defeated in the September 3, 2020 general election, said Wright’s resignation did not go far enough.
Businessman Russell Hammond, who served as a JLP MP for the constituency between 1983 and 1989, could not be located for comment yesterday, but he had previously told The Gleaner that Wright should not remain in the Parliament.
“He must resign from the Parliament. It is the only decent thing to do, alongside publicly apologising to the woman (the victim of the beating), the ladies of the constituency and all the ladies in Jamaica,” said Blythe yesterday. “How can he be allowed to sit in the Parliament?”
Wright is currently on a two-month leave of absence from the House to address what House Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert told his parliamentary colleagues were urgent matters.
“He needs to step aside ... not ‘kotching’ on as an independent MP,” said Blythe.
Vaz, who has stepped aside as the PNP caretaker for the constituency since his defeat to Wright, thinks his successor no longer commands the respect of the constituents and would be better off making a clean cut from representational politics.
“My personal view is that he should resign from the Parliament,” said Vaz, who was making his first public comment on the issue. “ ... He is unlikely to get the type of respect that goes with the office he holds, so, in my opinion, the best thing for him to do at this time is to walk away from the whole thing.”
In a recent interview with The Sunday Gleaner, Hammond, who acknowledged speaking to Wright since the contentious video surfaced, said he needs to quit his parliamentary position with immediate effect.
Political commentator Chang believes the JLP is in a better position now that Wright has resigned as a member.
“It is the right thing to do politically. There is nothing to lose and a lot to gain. It is 49 to 14 and you lose one, you still have a comfortable majority. He was not somebody who was a minister or a key person. He won’t be missed and the JLP looks good to the country now,” Chang told The Gleaner yesterday.
He said it would have been very foolish if Wright had not been made to resign from the party.
As it relates to whether Wright’s to resign his role as MP, Chang said the prime minister was powerless and it was totally up to Wright.
“I find a lot of hypocrisy going on. ... As far as I understand it, nobody can boot him out but the voters. The prime minister has zero power,” Chang argued.
Looking at the prospects of a possible resignation from Parliament, Chang said it should be the law that within 90 days after an MP steps down, a by-election should be called.
“There are a lot of loopholes. People chat and chat and they play politics, but when it comes to fix thinking and to prevent things happening for the betterment of the country, they always take party lines,” he said.
Chang contended that the JLP now has the “moral upper hand” against the PNP.
He said people are likely to make comparisons between the response of the PNP and the JLP to matters of serious allegations against their members.
“If both Wright and Dayton Campbell step down, it would set a new bar of public behaviour in Jamaica. We could say we are improving. I think Mr Golding is foolish not to ask Mr Campbell to step down,” Chang told The Gleaner, referencing allegations of sexual impropriety against the PNP general secretary, claims Campbell has strongly denied.
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