Dawn Ritch, Contributor

The Prime Minister, it has become obvious, will not be dictated to by either the media, or Her Majesty's loyal Opposition.

Nor will she speak when told to. The Trafigura affair is her first crisis, and at the time of writing last Thursday, she still had not given a press conference on the matter.

Nevertheless, within a week of it breaking across her bow, Madame Prime Minister presided over the resignation of Colin Campbell and brought forward a debate on a bill for party financing in the House of Parliament. Mr. Campbell apparently signed a contract, deposited the money to a dormant campaign account of his, and lied about it to the public. His fate was sealed.

Mrs. Simpson Miller has also ordered that the money be returned, and quite rightly so if it is not a gift as claimed by the donor. It has been variously described by the Opposition as the pilferage of state funds, a donation from a foreign multinational, a commercial transaction with the same multinational, and as, perhaps, even a bribe.

The outcry on the matter has been equally curious. For the first time in the history of the country, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica and Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) were out with statements in the first week. Bear in mind that these organisations were themselves in a state of near total political dormancy for the last 17 years as well. And JFJ, although of recent vintage, has largely confined themselves to murder.

Former Opposition Leader Edward Seaga must envy current Leader Bruce Golding for his good fortune. Never did the private sector organisations and non-governmental organisations line up behind Seaga on anything, much less do so within the first week. Even more frustrating for him must be all the major editorials and commentaries which had lined up behind Bruce within days.

Amazing achievement

This is an amazing achievement on Mr. Golding's part. As soon as he thought the issue was fading too fast, he said "No, no, no," and gave them more details. They lapped it up. They took the scent and were off on the chase. In all my years of writing, I've never seen so much interest in detail before. Indeed it was hard to get these people really interested in anything at all, except sitting on committees.

Incredibly, nobody remarked that, instead of talking about it, the Prime Minister took action. This detail has been wholly overlooked. Almost as unremarked was the fact that at the following session of Parliament, a bill for debate on political party financing was brought forward. Again she took action, this time on the legislative floor.

The bill had been brought to the House by Independent Member of Parliament Abe Dabdoub. The bill, described as "An act to make provision for the funding of political parties and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto," will allow for the disclosure of donors. Mr. Dabdoub said if the law had existed, the Banking Act would not have been breached in the Trafigura scandal.

This column is on record against all disclosure. If the country becomes fixated on who has money, and gives it to whom, Jamaica will finally collapse and be beyond all repair.

Only a socialist at heart, and a Roman Catholic like my good friend Abe Dabdoub, could ever have come up with a bill to ban anonymous donations. Others talk about it, secretly hoping it will never happen, but Abe comes up with a bill for it.

We've argued about it for months. When he finally told me it would be tabled, I asked to see a copy, horrified to see it looking even halfway official.

This most damnable bill will incite class hatred, if passed, to say nothing of race hatred. Any alliance between Mr. Dabdoub and Mrs. Simpson Miller on this issue is bound to be an explosive device.

If anonymous donations are banned, it denies people the opportunity of being a fly on the wall; to buy out the bar in a district without a soul knowing, and to pay for the curry goat. Impulse will forever be banished, and generosity will have to be carefully considered because of its potential legal consequences to the donor.

His bill was dry as dust. When I came to the ban on anonymous donations halfway through, I cast it aside. Abe is not the person to craft such a bill, because he has very little regard for rich people. As soon as he's seated in the presence of one, he falls asleep.

Disclosure and confession

In my book that makes him totally unsuited to say anything about donations, political or otherwise.

Nevertheless it appears that Madame Prime Minister backs his bill fully, or at least wants it debated in the House. This alarms me deeply.

Life is not about disclosure. That is only the name of a radio programme. Why would any prime minister, female or otherwise, want to get into disclosure? Disclosure and confession belong to the realm of religion, not politics. Whatever happened to playing one's cards close to one's chest? Both Mr. Dabdoub and Madam Prime Minister have been noted for that. Why then would they get together on disclosure? I can only hope it's not so.

Perhaps I need not worry. If Mrs. Simpson Miller will not be dictated to by media and the Opposition on when to speak or call an election, she is hardly going to be dictated to by Abe Dabdoub on party financing. Nevertheless, I must confess I find this alliance on party funding deeply troubling.

This is one time I agreed with Bruce Golding when he refused to debate the bill, but doubtless for different reasons. It doesn't matter to me that the Electoral Advisory Committee is thinking about it already. I just don't think that anybody should bother to think about it at all.

The technical details don't matter. Nobody, least of all politicians, private sector organisations, NGOs and multinational corporations, should need a manual to find out if a thing is right or wrong.