Robert Hart, Staff Reporter
Gallimore
THE AIR Jamaica Acquisition Group (AJAG) is challenging Member of Parliament for West Rural St. Andrew, Andrew Gallimore, to repeat scathing statements made on Tuesday, but this time outside the protection of the Chamber of Parliament.
According to AJAG, the statements made by Mr. Gallimore during his contribution to the 2005/2006 Sectoral Debate in Parliament sought to impugn the integrity of members of the acquisition group which recently relinquished ownership of the national airline.
"Under normal circumstances, Mr. Gallimore's scurrilous and baseless assertions would be best ignored," the Gordon 'Butch' Stewart-led AJAG said in a statement yesterday.
However, the group added: "The fact that Mr. Gallimore hid behind parliamentary privilege to cowardly assassinate the character of AJAG members, elevates the matter to a new level."
On Tuesday Mr. Gallimore used much of his contribution to the Sectoral Debate to lambaste AJAG for its handling of Air Jamaica during its ten-year ownership of the debt-ridden national airline.
During his presentation, Mr. Gallimore said: "I cannot fault the Butch Stewart-led AJAG Group on their negotiations. They have served their private business interests well; they have negotiated rings around the Minister of Finance and his team and that is why, as the 75 per cent shareholders, they have lost only US$26.5 million while the taxpayers have lost $52.5 billion."
Mr. Gallimore continued: "The Butch Stewart-led AJAG group was allowed to take huge business risks with taxpayers' money while their money was safely tucked away. They could gamble wildly because they had everything to gain and nothing to lose. Every time they rolled the dice we (taxpayers) covered the bet."
AJAG said Mr. Gallimore's shameful conduct was not surprising.
The group said, it was its view, that in his brief public life, Mr. Gallimore had "failed to demonstrate much capacity to deal with complex issues."
AJAG said it viewed Mr. Gallimore's actions as an attempt to use parliamentary privilege to promote a private family vendetta against the group, and argued that it raised serious questions about his suitability to represent people or to hold public office.
Mr. Gallimore's brother Miguel Gallimore, has been involved in a bitter legal battle with Air Jamaica, stretching back to AJAG's tenure.
The group said that if his motive was not malicious, Mr. Gallimore had a duty to provide the evidence to justify his assertions.
On Thursday Mr. Gallimore, the Opposition's parliamentary whip, was reportedly criticised by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)'s leadership during an emergency meeting called on the issue.
Mr. Gallimore said the views expressed in his presentation were his own and not necessarily those of the JLP.
"I feel that the issues of management and the questions that I have raised are very valid and need to be addressed in the national interest," he said.
