Bruce Golding, seen here with wife, Lorna, in 1995, has gone from co-founder of the NDM to prime minister of his old roots, the JLP. - File

More than a decade after Bruce Golding, first president of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), abandoned hopes of leading Jamaica's first electable third party, the organisation is still bristling with rage at his perceived betrayal.

"We are bitter. We are upset that a person who could speak so eloquently in support of our policies has not found himself capable of implementing one of those policies now that he is prime minister," NDM General Secretary Michael Williams told The Gleaner.

Golding became the first president of the NDM in 1995 after he became disenchanted with the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

However, after the NDM failed to win a seat in the 1997 general election, Golding left the party and rejoined the JLP in 2002.

Sell-out

On Monday, Williams, who was reacting to Golding's announcement that new taxes were imminent, said had the prime minister continued to embrace NDM principles, there would have been no need for the measures.

"We see Mr Golding as a sell-out, a man who came from the JLP saying that he was going to practise new ideas. He was embraced by the NDM because he had a public image and we made him our first leader," Williams said.

He added: "What we are bitter about is that Mr Golding, for five years, enunciated and said that he believed in the policies of the NDM, and now that he is prime minister, he has walked away from every one of the NDM policies."

Policy tenets diluted

Among the policies put forward by the NDM was the creation of a constituency development fund, to be funded by five per cent of the national budget. Though Golding's JLP has adopted the policy, Williams contends that its implementation has been watered down and bastardised.

The NDM has also proposed to move away from appointing members of parliament as ministers of government. The organisation said it would select talented persons, irrespective of political allegiance, to be ministers. It said the move would allow MPs to spend more time focusing on issues in their constituencies.

According to the NDM general secretary, if the JLP or the People's National Party adopted the policies of the NDM, "we would be just as happy, because we believe they are policies that will put Jamaica forward".

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com