JAMAICA: FORMER MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINGSTON 000617

SIPDIS

INL/LP FOR BOZZOLO WHA/CAR KATHLEEN HARNE INR/IAA BOB
CARHART TREASURY FOR ERIN NEPHEW JUSTICE FOR ROBERT LIPMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2018
TAGS: SNAR PREL PINR PGOV SOCI ASEC KCOR JM XL
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: FORMER MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY

REF: IIR 6 905 0060 07 KINGSTON 571 KINGSTON 566 IIR
6 905 0049 08

Classified By: DCM James T. Heg, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a recent conversation with the NAS
Director, Jamaica's former Minister of National Security and
opposition People's National Party (PNP) leader, Peter
Phillips, agreed that there is danger that Jamaica could go
the way of Haiti if the current government were to fail in
its reform efforts and if Portia Simpson-Miller (Phillips'
rival in the PNP) were returned to power. Phillips continues
to mull over whether to challenge Simpson-Miller for control
of the PNP during its Party Congress in September. Phillips
also encouraged the USG to continue to push the GOJ on
Anti-corruption and police reform. In particular, he advised
us to vocally support the current Commissioner of Police,
Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin. End Summary.

English Speaking Haiti


2. (C) On June 27, the NAS Director met with Jamaica's former
Minister of National Security, Peter Phillips, ostensibly to
seek his advice on how the USG could best continue to support
the current Commissioner of Police, Rear Admiral Hardley
Lewin. Phillips, who when he was Minister could be quite
guarded, was in a relaxed and talkative mode and the NAS
Director had the opportunity to speak with him about a broad
range of topics including his views on the seeming inability
of the Government of Jamaica to make headway against
spiraling violent crime. In the conversation the NAS
Director asked Phillips' opinion of an assessment of
Jamaica's future, which she had heard from several prominent
Jamaicans -- that Jamaica sits at a precipice, and unless
drastic measures are taken in short order then in five,
maximum ten years Jamaica could become "English-speaking
Haiti." Perhaps because he is now in Opposition,
surprisingly Phillips not only did not reject this
comparison, he agreed with it. (Ref A)

Prime Minster Golding's Ineptness


3. (C) Phillips stated that he has been thoroughly
disappointed with the across the board "ineptness" of Prime
Minister Golding's government. (Ref B) He places the blame
squarely at Golding's feet for the results of a recent poll
indicating that, former Prime Minister, Portia
Simpson-Miller, who Phillips called a "disaster" for the
country, had gained ground and now was more popular than
Golding. (Note: Simpson-Miller's rise in the polls is
inconvenient for Prime Minister Golding; it also hampers
Phillips' ability to challenge her for leadership of the PNP
during this September's party Congress.)


4. (C) Phillips stated that it was an astonishing possibility
that the PNP after "running the country into the ground for
the last eighteen years." could possibly come back to power.
According to Phillips, Simpson-Miller, who was in a political
"free fall" after the PNP's defeat in September 2007, has
been energized by the most recent poll numbers. Phillips
made no bones about his desire to challenge Simpson-Miller
for leadership of the Party, but said that this new burst of
popularity for the former Prime Minister was causing a rift
among his supporters. He explained that there are elements
within the PNP who are trying to convince Phillips to stay
his hand, and given Prime Minister Golding's slim margins in
Parliament, mount a vote of no confidence and ride
Simpson-Miller's popularity back into power. This element
within the PNP had told Phillips that they would then support
a move by him to internally challenge Portia once the PNP was
returned to power. He commented that they clearly were
motivated more by a desire to get back into power, than by
any real desire to serve the people of Jamaica.


5. (C) When asked by the NAS Director if he would ever serve
in another Simpson-Miller-led government, Phillips stated
that he "never says never, but his answer is no; it would
simply be too distasteful." (Comment: Prior to the
aforementioned poll, all signs pointed to Phillips or his
supporters leading a challenge against Simpson-Miller for
leadership of the PNP in September 2008. Phillips now does
not seem ready to do so given Simpson-Miller's current
greater focus and energy. Post's other PNP sources confirm
that the poll numbers have reinvigorated Simpson-Miller. Poll
numbers just released on July 11, show that 48% believe that
Simpson-Miller is doing only an "average" job as opposition
leader, and 22% have a negative impression. Given that the
PNP Congress is not until September, how this additional
snapshot of public opinion may not tell us much about
Phillips' eventual decision to challenge Simpson-Miller


6. (C) Phillips further opined that a return of
Simpson-Miller, and her troubled former Minister of
Telecommunications, Mines and Energy, Philip Paulwell, would
exacerbate the Haitianization of Jamaica and Jamaican
Politics. (Comment: Phillips' dislike of Simpson-Miller,
insistence that he would not serve in another government run
by her, and harsh criticism of the PNP's eighteen year reign,
seem to smack a bit of convenient amnesia, as he served as
Minister Without a Portfolio, Minister of Special Projects,
Minister of Transport and Works, Minister of Health, and
Minister of National Security over successive PNP terms in
power from 1993 to 2007. However, as Minister of National
Security, Phillips was regarded as a capable administrator of
the Ministry and as a friend to the United States on Crime
and Security matters.)

Critical Need to continue to support Commissioner Lewin


7. (C) Phillips confirmed Lewin's recounting of the events
that lead to his disturbing June 3 resignation letter to the
Police Services Commission. (Ref C, D) He stated that it was
critical for the United States and its international partners
(UK, Canada) to express in the clearest terms to the Prime
Minister and current Minister of National Security our belief
that Commissioner Lewin is an integral partner and that if
Lewin absents himself from the JCF, our support will recede.
Phillips also pressed the NAS Director to convey his opinion
that the U.S. must support with funds and "boots on the
ground" hard measures to identify, and prosecute, corrupt
public officials, particularly high-level police officers.


8. (C) Phillips filled in his perspective on the purported
strained relationship between Lewin and MacMillan, (Ref B) a
story that the NAS Director has heard previously from other
perhaps more objective sources. According to Philips,
MacMillan left the Jamaica Defence Force in 1986 "under a
cloud," and the Chief of Staff at the time, Major General
Neish, remained on the job longer to ensure that MacMillan
would not be named to the top JDF job. According to
Phillips, Lewin was not involved in MacMillan's dismissal,
but as Lewin rose in the ranks, eventually obtaining the
position that MacMillan wanted, resentment built. Phillips
also recounted that MacMillan was pushing for Lewin's
replacement by Assistant Commissioner of Police Owen
Ellington, who was a protQgQ of MacMillan's when he was
Commissioner of Police from 1993 to 1996. Prime Minister
Golding's close relationship with MacMillan, in addition to
Ellington's own reputation as a capable and intelligent
officer, perhaps helps to connect the dots as to why
Ellington's name, repeatedly, has been at the top of
Golding's short list for the job of Commissioner, despite
purported linkages to criminal organizations. DAO Comment:
MacMillan departed the JDF in 1986, and Neish was COS until
1990, which seems a long time to remain in office, if it were
only to keep MacMillan out of the position. DAO has doubts
that MacMillan has worked to replace Commissioner Lewin.


9. (C) Comment: Phillips can be both incredibly brilliant and
devious when it suits his purposes and his comments against
MacMillan and Golding should to be taken in context. It is
troubling, however, that he accepted without protest the
notion of the "Haitinization" of Jamaica, something that most
Jamaicans would dismiss as a highly insulting and unlikely
comparison. Serious consideration needs to be given to
providing additional focused assistance to Jamaica to bolster
its capacity to prevent its continuing downward, economic,
social, and criminal spiral. End Comment.

JOHNSON