Senator Peter Bunting took a direct jab at the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) during the People’s National Party (PNP) mass rally on Sunday, denouncing their governance as “a national disgrace” and accusing its leadership of chronic corruption, incompetence, and betrayal of the Jamaican people.

The speech, delivered to a crowd of supporters in Manchester, was filled with piercing critiques and allegations, aimed at mobilising the party’s base ahead of the general election on September 3.

“One of the JLP debaters last night said this: he said no one manages like the JLP. Well, I suppose it’s true because their management is a national disgrace,” Bunting said, reflecting on JLP team for the Social Issues Debate held on Saturday, August 23.

Bunting cited an example of the JLP’s mismanagement, pointing to the protracted Cornwall Regional Hospital refurbishing project, which increased from an initial cost of $2 billion to a staggering $24 billion over eight years, with delayed completion.

“No one but the JLP could stand refurbishing Cornwall for two billion dollars, and eight years later they’ve reached 24 billion dollars and can’t do it. No one else could mismanage like the JLP.”

The SSL Scandal: Where Did the Money Go?

Bunting turned his attention to the $5 billion fraud scandal at Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL), squarely placing blame on the former Finance Minister Nigel Clarke. He alleged that Clarke ignored an “alarming report” from the Financial Services Commission (FSC), which resulted in devastating financial losses for hundreds of investors, including global sprint icon Usain Bolt.

“Look at today’s front page story on SSL, the FSC sent Nigel an alarming report. Nigel claimed he put it in the cabinet without reading it. “What was the consequence? Five billion dollars stolen from investors, 950 million stolen from Usain Bolt,” Bunting said.

He revealed that although the government spent US$1.2 million on a forensic report into the fraud, its findings have been withheld from the public.

“The cruel report… its release has been blocked by this JLP government. Why is that? Why are they hiding the true story?”

A Matter of Character

Bunting also questioned the JLP’s leadership character, claiming that the party consistently chooses loyalty to criminality and political self-preservation over national good.

“Comrades, this evening I want to share a story with you about character, the mental and moral qualities of the leadership of the Jamaican Labour Party.”

He revived the 2010 Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke extradition scandal, accusing former Prime Minister Bruce Golding and current senior JLP leaders of shielding the infamous gang leader.

“Bruce Golding and his cabinet… spent most of their time trying to defend and protect from extradition the criminal kingpin Christopher Dudus Coke, Andrew, Vaz, all of them were part of that. This was the leader of the infamous Shower Posse, a murderous gang that to this day Labourites greet one another with the name of that gang.”

Failed Economy

Highlighting the PNP’s economic turnaround under Portia Simpson-Miller and Peter Phillips as finance minister, Bunting lamented how the JLP, despite inheriting a stable fiscal framework, failed to translate macroeconomic gains into improved living standards.

“With Portia Simpson-Miller and with bright ministers like Peter Phillips, Mark Golding, Fenton Ferguson… we rescued Jamaica from the edge of the financial precipice and set it on a good footing. But what the young people are asking me today, they say, How come with all of that you give the JLP an easy wicket to bat on, a fiscal template to follow, how come the average Jamaican has not benefited from that?”

He cited statistics that 55 per cent of Jamaicans are unable to afford a nutritious meal, declining student performance in English and Maths, and appalling conditions in public hospitals.

“Healthcare is a nightmare with patients at Mandeville Regional sitting for days in wheelchairs, in passageways, sometimes they drop dead before they can get attention. The maternal mortality rate: mothers dying in childbirth is 10 times what it was when the PNP was last in office.” Bunting emphasised that these conditions can all be summarised by corruption, and the JLP PR cannot denounce the truth.