‘PNP too sensitive’
KARL Samuda, the minister of industry, commerce and investment, yesterday accused the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) leadership of being ‘too sensitive’ and putting its personal feelings ahead of the nation’s business.
“We should not be sensitive about every utterance,” Samuda told members of the Kingston Rotary Club at a luncheon meeting held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel yesterday.
“We cannot be so sensitive that we withdraw from dialogue at the detriment of the greater good,” he added.
Samuda was referring to the opposition’s response to comments made by Prime Minister Bruce Golding at the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) annual conference last Sunday that, “.The People’s National Party suffers from a kind of intellectual depravity… It is as if termites have infested their brains.”
Golding’s statement followed statements by the opposition leader, Portia Simpson Miller, and members of her party that government was to be blamed for rising food and petrol prices.
Golding told his party supporters Sunday that a recent World Bank report had predicted a slowing down in the global economy because of rising commodity prices. He said, too, that the United Nations recently reported that rising food prices globally was likely to affect its programme to avert famine in Africa.
Simpson Miller, in her first response to Golding’s statement, accused the government of a class war against the PNP and a day after likened the situation in Jamaica to that in Pakistan, where a state of emergency has been declared and opposition supporters locked up and beaten.
The PNP leadership has since announced that it had abandoned bipartisan talks with the government, saying the administration had no respect for the PNP. The party has also asked the prime minister to apologise for the statements he made on Sunday.
But yesterday Samuda said: “Much worse have been said about the prime minister. When the prime minister was referred to as the ‘little fellow in green’, he never took exception to it.”
According to Samuda, who is also general secretary for the ruling party, there should be no room for sensitivity and personal feelings in dealing with the nation’s business.
“One needs only to look at my past,” he said, in reference to comments made in the past about his movement between political parties. “It shows one thing, that I am flexible.”
The JLP general secretary, in the meantime, implored members of the opposition to reconsider their position on the bipartisan talks for the good of the country.
“They should set aside things on a personal basis and reconsider their position for the greater good,” he said.
He added that plans by government to tackle issues like unemployment could not be effective without the involvement of the private sector and the opposition.
“It cannot be done by government alone,” said the industry minister. “It will take the support of the entire Jamaica, service clubs such as yours, and it will also need the support of the opposition.”