Damion Mitchell, News Coordinator - Radio

The embattled former state minister for energy, Kern Spencer, last night indicated that he would be seeking to take leave of absence from Parliament amid the investigation into the controversial Cuban light bulb programme.

Spencer also said he would be seeking to take leave from all other leadership responsibilities in the People's National Party.

His move comes only days after the energy minister, Clive Mullings, indicated that he would be seeking to have Spencer suspended from Parliament following a damning report from the contractor general over the light bulb programme.

Spencer was assigned responsibility for the project which has incurred $276 million to distribute four million free Cuban fluorescent bulbs.

Allegations of breach

Contractor General Greg Christie says the project appears to have breached three Acts of Parliament.

In his report on the programme, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, Christie said a criminal investigation was warranted against Spencer.

Last night, Spencer said he wished to emphatically assert his innocence with regard to the matters being investigated. He also declared that he was being unfairly treated.

"It has become clear to me that there are persons who, for political gain, are bent on doing everything to prejudge me and to prejudice the ongoing investigations," he said.

Party image

Spencer further said he wished to be treated like any other Jamaican citizen and be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. "I am concerned about the damage that is being unfairly done to the People's National Party," he said.

In a swift reaction, energy minister, Clive Mullings, said Spencer had made an appropriate move.

"At least he has done something that his party has failed to do," the minister told The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre.

But Mullings said Spencer should have made the move when the Auditor General raised serious questions about the controversial free Cuban light bulb programme in a report tabled in Parliament last month.

Spencer and the former energy minister, Phillip Paulwell, had earlier stepped down from their roles as opposition spokesmen.

Last night, Mullings also parted with Spencer's view that he and the investigation are being prejudiced.