Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Samuels (left) and Spencer (right)

KERN SPENCER says he is not contemplating resigning as Member of Parliament for North East St Elizabeth, but if he does, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) constituency caretaker Coris Samuels is ready to capture the constituency for his party.

Samuels tells The Sunday Gleaner that the leadership of the JLP should make the definitive call as to whether Spencer should continue as MP for the constituency many consider People's National Party (PNP) country.

Samuels says, however, Labourites on the ground are anticipating a by-election and the machinery there is being oiled.

"My supporters are coming out adamantly that we are going to be having a by-election and we should get on the ground and start to rally the troops," Samuels says.

"I have my activities in the constituency, but nothing particularly against the background of the report, but if it comes up we will be ready," Samuels adds.

Spencer, the former energy state minister in the last PNP government, is at the centre of the Cuban light-bulb debacle, into which Contractor General Greg Christie has recommended a criminal investigation.

In light of Christie's report, there have been several calls for Spencer to step down as member of Parliament. He has already resigned as deputy shadow minister for industry.

Political commentator Kevin O'Brien Chang, for example, believes that the first-time MP should resign for the good of his party.

"It would help the party's image if he steps aside and I believe they are hoping he will," Chang says.

He adds that stepping aside could be interpreted by the public as guilt, but Spencer may "do well by starting a new political norm by resigning."

Troy Caine, political statistician, says that Spencer should resign "on a point of principle".

"Even if he is innocent, there is enough out there to scar him and his party. He should step aside and wheel and come back some other time as he has age on his side," Caine says.

Spencer, however, says that resignation is not something that he is contemplating.

Not a simple mandate

"There is no intention of such on my part. I was elected by little under 10,000 people. It is not a simple mandate that I was given, so I can't just get up and turn my back on them," he tells The Sunday Gleaner while adding that "nobody has asked me to do that either".

"It would be unfair for me to take that decision without consulting them and from all indication, what I have been seeing, there is overwhelming support for me," Spencer adds.

PNP General Secretary Peter Bunting said on Tuesday that the party's executive committee would examine the contractor general's report to determine what steps to take.

The 33-year-old MP had responsibility for the imple-mentation of an energy-saving programme which involved the distribution of some four million energy-saving bulbs islandwide. The bulbs were a gift from the Cuban government.

The project, which started in February of 2006, lasted for 18 months and cost over $276 million to implement. It ended just before the 2007 general election, which ushered the PNP into opposition for the first time in 18 years.

Within two months of assuming office, JLP government minister with responsibility for energy, Clive Mullings, in two presen-tations to Parliament, raised questions about the implementation of the project.

A subsequent probe by the auditor general found that Government's procurement guide-lines were breached. The auditor general also found that 167,380 bulbs costing more than $90 million were unaccounted for.

In a report released last week, Contractor General Greg Christie placed Spencer at the centre of a criminal conspiracy. Christie cited corruption and illicit award of contracts and referred the matter to the commissioner of police for criminal investigations. The Fraud Squad is also conducting a probe of its own.

Spencer's 'babymother', Sherine Shakes, as well as Verdie Mair, Shakes' grandmother, have been named in the contractor general's report as persons who benefited from the project.

Spencer has dismissed claims of nepotism in the project. Many of his constituents, who gave him a resounding victory in the general election, still have confidence in him, The Sunday Gleaner found last week. Spencer says that "half truths" being circulated are contributing to the perception of him being guilty.

The facts

"People without all the facts have drawn conclusions, but when all the facts are put on the table, people would have been better able to analyse. What you have is a public court being conducted by persons who don't have all the facts," he says, adding that he will be vindicated.

Spencer secured 9,047 votes in the September 3, 2007 general election, 2,138 more than Samuels, who polled 6,909 votes. Some 67 per cent of the over 23,000 electorates voted in a election which saw the PNP increase its votes from 8,555 in 2002. The party's victory margin, however, declined.

Samuels believes that if a by-election takes place in the constituency he would have a good chance at winning the seat for the governing JLP, which has only won the seat once since the constituency was created in 1959. This was in 1980, when the JLP won 51 of the 60 parliamentary seats.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com