Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
LEFT: MP for South Central St. Catherine, Sharon Hay-Webster. RIGHT: Superintendent Kenneth Wade. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
LIVID MEMBERS of Jamaica's governing People's National Party (PNP) are demanding that the St. Catherine North Police provide proof that the party was a major supporter of Jamaica's most wanted man, Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett, who died in a police operation on Sunday night.
"He needs to call names. If there is any evidence of that, the police must bring me to book on it. let them do so," declared Sharon Haye-Webster, Member of Parliament for South Central St. Catherine.
The MP vehemently denied that she had given any assistance to the deceased gang leader. "Not Miss Sharon Haye-Webster, couldn't be. I don't know the individual killed by the police; he has never come across me," she retorted.
Superintendent Kenneth Wade, commanding officer for St. Catherine North, made the damning accusation on Monday, hours after the pre-dawn joint police/military operation which resulted in the death of Bennett, leader of the notorious 'Clansman' gang in Rock River, Clarendon, on Sunday.
Supt. Wade said the support of the PNP has helped fuel the criminality of the 'Clansman' gang, which has been operating in Spanish Town for several years.
At the time of his death, the police said Bennett was wanted in connection with between 80-100 murders committed over a two-year period. He had also been linked to several cases of extortion and other serious crimes in Spanish Town, Old Harbour and Portmore in St. Catherine, and May Pen in Clarendon.
Ms. Haye-Webster maintained that the interactions she has had with the gangs in Spanish Town were done upon the invitation and the supervision of the police. She also revealed that Supt. Wade endorsed the latest peace meeting between 'Clansman' and their rivals 'One Order'. "Three policemen who were present at the meeting were delegates of Superintendent Wade," the PNP MP revealed.
After that meeting, a convoy led by Olivia 'Babsy' Grange and top members of the 'One Order' gang was fired up, allegedly, by a member of the 'Clansman' gang, resulting in one death.
DOUBLE-BARRELLED ATTACK
Deputy General Secretary of the PNP, Colin Campbell, was also not pleased with Supt. Wade's comments. Yesterday he told The Gleaner that Superintendent Wade had made a double-barrelled attack against the party as an organisation and also its elected MPs.
Mr. Campbell unequivocally stated that Supt. Wade's statement has maligned his party. "It is worse than propaganda - that is absolutely false without any basis at all. The PNP has given no support to Bulbie or any other criminal."
He too dared Supt. Wade to come forward with evidence that would incriminate members of the PNP. "I challenge him to let the law take its course. If he has evidence that elected PNP officials are assisting he must do what the law requires."
However, Mr. Campbell was careful to highlight that the party could not take responsibility for the actions of every single member.
A release from PNP headquarters praised Operation Kingfish for ousting 'Bulbie' and "brining an end to the terror of Jamaica's most wanted criminal and leader of the infamous Clansman gang."
The statement also condemned the actions of "lawless residents in Spanish Town" who were engaged in attacks against the police "and illegally blocking roadways".
Meanwhile, Beverley Lopez, president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), who earlier this year spearheaded demands on the political directorate to disassociate themselves from criminals, said Superintendent Wade "would be best advised" to bring any evidence he had to the attention of the Political Ombudsman. " Because clearly that would be in breach of the (Political) Code of Conduct that they have signed," she pointed out.
