Golding Defends PNP Executive After Leaked Voice Notes Controversy

Leader of the Opposition and President of the People’s National Party (PNP) Mark Golding on Sunday, attempted to distance the PNP's executive from alleged leaked voice notes plotting to sabotage the government's recently launched NaRRa mechanism.

 

Speaking at the party's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the UWI Mona, the president says having concluded a probe into the allegations, he can now share as much.

 

The PNP chose not to comment publicly on that matter until we had the facts before us. Our review is now complete, and it established three things.

 

Golding said, “Firstly, the conversation in which those leaked recordings um took place did not happen in any official party forum. Secondly, no party officer, no officer of the party participated in that discussion. And thirdly, the PNP has no official NEC or executive WhatsApp group that doesn't exist.”

 

That said, Golding contends the group is certainly not where party policy is made before attempting further clarity on the origin of the WhatsApp group in question.

 

“This was a WhatsApp group formed by individuals within the party and the views expressed were their personal views. So, those recordings do not represent the official position of the PNP or any policy of the PNP.”

 

 However, the party president notes the party takes responsibility for its official views.

 

“The PNP takes responsibility for its official positions. Those are set by our constitutional organs such as this national executive council or the executive committee of the party and those that are communicated by our authorized representatives and shown through our public actions or through our public media outlets, social media outlets and so on.”

 

He continued, “So, with that clarified, I just want to turn to the matter at hand.”

 

Only recently, the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) took the opposition to task over the alleged leaked voice notes, which it said was tantamount to sabotaging victims of hurricane Melissa, urgently awaiting the relief and projects to be undertaken.