As the Government and Opposition continue a thinly veiled tit-for-tat battle to prove which is doing more for the Jamaican students trying to escape battle-torn Ukraine, both Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith and Opposition Leader Mark Golding this morning (February 27) revealed that a plan to transport them to Poland by bus had fallen apart and they are currently on foot for what is expected to be an hourslong journey to the border.

The latest development was first revealed by Golding who, in a Twitter post, stated that he had been in touch with some of the students and learned that “the bus arrangements from Lviv to the Poland border didn’t go as planned” and that 24 of them were taking a projected nine-hour, 38km walk to the border.

GOLDING’S COMMENTS FOLLOW JOHNSON SMITH POST

Golding’s revelation was coming around two hours after Johnson Smith had posted a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade indicating that 22 students had arrived in L’viv from Kharkiv, 19 of whom were planning to join four students who were already in Lviv in the journey to the border. The other three students were reportedly advised by their parents to remain on the train that had brought them to Lviv.

In the ministry’s release, Johnson Smith had indicated that the Ministry was working on securing transport for the students, 23 of them at the time, to the border, a commitment expected to ease the concerns of Jamaicans who have since last week been monitoring the plight of the students.

But with Golding’s subsequent statement destroying all hope that the Government had been able to provide the students with transport, Johnson Smith would 30 minutes later post a video-recorded statement in which she explained that the students had indeed been placed on a bus, but soon found themselves having to walk when bus was forced to stop.

“My best information is that apparently citizens were angered by the bus overtaking traffic… . It appears that they would not permit the bus to continue and the students had to determine whether they would remain on the bus and go back towards Lviv or if they would exit the bus and proceed on foot,” Johnson Smith said.

She added that it would be a 20km journey (rather than 38km as stated by Golding) that would by no means be easy.

Similar to Golding, Johnson Smith asked Jamaicans to keep the students in their prayers as they continue their push to the border.

Last week, the Government and Opposition also appeared to be attempting to one up each other when Golding and the People’s National Party (PNP) revealed that they had pooled together funds to assist the students after the Andrew Holness administration had been lambasted for what had been described by the foreign affairs ministry as a loan offer to pay for their airfare out of Ukraine.

The students had opted not to take up the loan offer and Jamaicans on social media ripped the Government for putting a loan on the table for their countrymen while they were facing the deadly threats of a military assault from Russia’s invading forces in Ukraine.

Golding on Friday indicated he had sent a personal donation directly to the students and that the PNP had raised US$10,000 it would funnel directly through the foreign affairs ministry to help them.

Shortly after Golding’s announcement, however, Robert Nesta Morgan, minister with responsibility for information, had reportedly indicated that Prime Minister Andrew Holness had raised US$11,500 (US$1,500 more than the PNP) through his Positive Jamaica Foundation to assist the mainly medical students.