Until last week, it was conventional wisdom that Bruce Golding's prime ministership would ultimately be defined by how his government handles the current economic crisis.

For, so bad have things become and so difficult the options facing the country, it will demand extraordinary leadership on the part of the prime minister to shrug off the political risks and take the tough decisions required to stabilise the economy in the face of declining government revenue.

Indeed, Mr Golding himself reckoned this to be the case, judging from his recent speech in which he disclosed his assignment to permanent secretaries to cut 20 per cent, or nearly $17 billion from their budgets for programmes. According to Mr Golding, the economic circumstances were placing his political credibility on the line.

But in politics, they say, time moves fast and certitudes can evaporate rather quickly. And so it is with what is likely to define Mr Golding's stint as prime minister, as he and his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) complete their second year in office.

How Mr Golding and his team handle the economy remains important. But they face political challenges, their response to which will determine whether Mr Golding has the capacity to become the transformational and morally grounded leader that he threatened when he placed before us visions of Jamaica with decency in governance and a polemical process free from the corrupt and the criminal and the demands of special interests.

The Government has not, to date, formally spoken to the issue, but it has dribbled out that United States is seeking to extradite a well-known, powerful and politically connected businessman and 'community leader', who has his base in Mr Golding's West Kingston constituency, specifically Tivoli Gardens.

That community, unfortunately, is often held up as the epitome of the political garrison, those zones of political exclusion from which one, or the other, of the political parties is effectively banned. In these areas, the state's apparatus, including law enforcement, functions only minimally. Law and order is maintained mostly by the community boss, who usually enjoys the wherewithal to dispense economic largesse.

Parallel leadership

In the old days, such perceived strong-armed enforcers were beholden to the parties and their representatives, for whom they rustled votes. Now, with an impoverished state and demands for transparency in the use of public resources, the power of the formal constituency leader is greatly diminished. A parallel leadership has emerged with its independent source of wealth and power.

This, apparently, is the dilemma faced by the Golding administration - a concern that an attempt to extradite someone whom a community views as benefactor could unleash a challenge to the state and to the JLP's and Mr Golding's own influence in West Kingston. And perhaps elsewhere.

To be clear, this newspaper cannot declare on the guilt or innocence of any person who law-enforcement agencies, local or foreign, may wish to face the court. But we believe in the rule of law and expect Jamaica to abide by its international treaties.

In that regard, we expect the administration, unswayed by politics, to do the right thing - which Mr Golding promised would be the hallmark of his leadership. To do otherwise, not only diminishes Mr Golding, but will hurt Jamaica's interests, political and economic, in the international community.

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