RE—ALLY ?

IT might have been late in coming, but Mr James Robertson did the right thing yesterday by resigning as minister of mining and energy.

After the United States revoked his visitor’s visa, it would have been extremely untenable for the country to have a minister who could not travel on national business to that key ally and valued business partner.

It has been obvious for sometime that the writing was on the wall for Mr Robertson who, though never found guilty of any of the grievous charges levelled against him, has had his image sullied in the worst way. If his communication consultant had not so advised him and recommended he resign before now, he/she should repay every cent of the fee paid by Mr Robertson.

We are not going to rehash the accusations and whisperings against the former minister here, especially because no one has provided any evidence of wrongdoing by Mr Robertson. And he is still presumed innocent until proven guilty.

But we believe that he should have made the decision to resign at the time when the prime minister took the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project under his own wings at Jamaica House, thus essentially relieving Mr Robertson of what appeared to have been his main task as energy minister.

The action of the United States in cancelling his visa was but the final nail in the coffin. No matter what may be Mr Robertson’s protestations of innocence, not even the smartest communication consultant can save his image. In fact, he has become what in the industry is called a public relations nightmare which would hang like an albatross around the neck of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government.

The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) could not ask for a better gift going into a general election. It is not difficult to foresee the firestorm of speculation that would enmesh the minister about the reasons for the visa revocation. The Jamaican imagination is brilliant for that. It is also not difficult to conclude that whatever the reason, it is not because President Barack Obama does not like Mr Robertson.

The Jamaican political culture rarely sees such a resignation as that of Mr Robertson. As usually, the fallen one has had to be pushed by a mighty force. In this case, that force is the United States. It is perhaps noteworthy that had the US not gone after Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, the former Tivoli Gardens don would still be living in the splendour of his ‘presidential’ status.

The point is that it would be nice to see our politicians acting on their own accord and taking responsibility for their action. Until this becomes second nature in our politics, the Jamaican people will never trust their government.

Of course, we are aware that the story is not over, because the country still wants to know why the US would take such a drastic step against a Government minister. We would certainly prefer if Mr Robertson be the first to tell us what went wrong, and not wait until he is prodded by America.