7 [ NEWSYOU MAY HAVE MISSED ] EVERALD WARMINGTON has rebuked former Prime Minister Bruce Golding for suggesting that the Government has not been blameless in the Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) saga as it issues licences to investment houses, indicating to the public that it is safe to conduct business with these entities. The private-investment firm is now the centre of an investigation as dozens of clients’ accounts at the entity were reportedly defrauded of billions of dollars. “ The Government has a responsibility. They are the ones that issue licences to these investment houses, and [with] the issuing of the licence, what they are saying to the public is that I am satisfied that these are good people to do business with, so you can go do business with them. Well that is what Usain Bolt did, and look what happened to him,” Golding, a former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader, said during a radio programme. The remarks infuriatedWarmington, a minister without portfolio in the current JLP administration. “This is not a civil war. It’s a guy (Golding) who has lost his relevance and is trying to be relevant by attacking your own party. That don’t make you relevant,”Warmington told journalists during a tour in St Elizabeth. “I want to say, ‘Bruce, you need to stop it and stop it now. Back off! Stop it now!’,”he continued, labelling Golding, who resigned in 2011 in the wake of the 2010 Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke extradition saga and the deadly Tivoli Gardens operation as a “failed” prime minister. ‘Back off!’Warmington slams Golding as failed leader after former PM weighs in on state role in SSL saga Gov’t, Opposition support 45-year minimum murder sentence The Government’s proposal to increase the mandatory minimum sentence for noncapital murder from 15 to 45 years will not face any objection from the Opposition. Mark Golding, the leader of the Opposition, said the consensus would make a statement to society about the heinous crime. While indicating that his philosophy was to leave sentencing to judges, Golding asked Justice Minister Delroy Chuck on Tuesday whether he was also inclined to impose mandatory sentences for gang-related crimes and lottery scamming which give rise to many murders. Chuck, in a statement to Parliament moments earlier, said that for sentences of life imprisonment for non-capital murder, it is proposed that convicts not be eligible for parole before serving 40 years, up from 15. The minister said that he would shortly take a bill to Parliament that reflects the Government’s position on the proposed increased penalties. Chuck told parliamentary colleagues that with the recent passage of the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act, 2022, which stipulates a mandatory minimum sentence with a range of 15 years, there was need to adjust the minimum penalty for murder under the Offences Against the Person Act. Late last year, Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn, KC, recommended to the justice ministry 30- to 40-year imprisonment as the starting point for a life sentence for all murder convictions before eligibility for parole. Llewellyn’s suggestion came after the Court of Appeal ruled to reduce convicted killer Quacie Hart’s prison sentence before eligibility for parole from 31 years to 20 years. Hart is serving a life sentence for the stabbing death of 14-year-old Jamaica College student Nicholas Francis during an altercation on a bus on October 26, 2016. AGONY, ANGER as new traffic era begins Faces of frustration bobbed in a sea of bodies that flooded the periphery of the Kingston and St Andrew Traffic Court on Tuesday as motorists made a last-ditch grasp at the month-end lifeline. There have been traffic jams at courthouses islandwide in the lead-up to the February 1 activation of the new Road Traffic Act – legislation passed more than four years ago but which has been parked because of regulatory and logistical delays. The Government framed the 48-day window, announced last December, as a reprieve of sorts – amnestying motorists from all tickets prior to February 1, 2018, but mandating that they face a judge to pay fines or challenge the allegations of other outstanding penalty notices. Compliant motorists would also have all demerit points expunged by the January 31, 2023, deadline. Holness succeeded Golding as leader of the JLP and as prime minister THE MONTHLY GLEANER | FEBRUARY 5 - MARCH 2, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS
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