Marlon Morgan, member of the Jamaica Labour Party’s Communications Taskforce, is describing Opposition Leader Mark Golding’s criticism of the appointment of Kedesha Campbell Rochester as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications & Transport (METT), as a vulgar and barefaced attempt to distract the public and deflect attention from the tax fraud scandal allegedly involving a senior PNP officer and sitting Member of Parliament.

Prior to her recent elevation, Campbell Rochester served for almost a decade in a senior civil service position as head of the Constituency Development Fund Management Unit.

“The PNP is haemorrhaging in terms of political capital and suffering immense embarrassment amid allegations that one of the companies involved in a scheme to deprive the public purse of tax revenue is owned and operated by a senior PNP officer and sitting Member of Parliament.

“While the damning Auditor General’s report regarding procurement-related breaches by the University Hospital of the West Indies did not name any particular company, speculation and inferences have been rife. To date, the senior PNP officer and sitting MP have neither confirmed nor denied involvement. It is particularly instructive that he has not uttered a word either denying or distancing himself from the swirling allegations,” Senator Morgan asserted.

The JLP Communications Taskforce member continued: “It has been almost two weeks since the government’s announcement of Campbell Rochester’s appointment as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications & Transport. Had the appointment been so offensive and objectionable, as Opposition Leader Mark Golding would have us believe-strong objection would have been raised from the very outset, not almost two weeks after the fact. It is patently clear that the PNP is raising a baseless, illegitimate and politically contrived objection to Campbell Rochester’s appointment as Permanent Secretary, in a desperate bid to distract the public from yet another scandal allegedly involving a senior PNP official.”

According to Senator Morgan, Campbell Rochester holds a Master of Science in Project Management from the University of Salford and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of the West Indies, Mona. She has also received advanced training in corporate governance and general management.

“I have witnessed first-hand the contempt and condescension Mark Golding metes out to Finance Minister Fayval Williams in the Parliament. His defiance and disregard for the Speaker of the House, Juliet Holness, is a matter of public record. It stands to reason that Opposition Leader Mark Golding is not particularly fond of strong, ambitious, qualified, and competent black women assuming positions of leadership in our society, even where such women, like Mrs Campbell Rochester,” Senator Morgan concluded.