Dear Editor,

The PNP message delivered to the people before the election was: more jobs, trust us to fix the economy, we have a special relationship with China and we can secure preferential loan guarantees from them, and we will complete the IMF loan negotiation within weeks of taking office. Now that the election is over and almost nine months have passed since the PNP’s victory at the polls, it can now be safely said that most of the promises made to the nation during the election season were either false or they still have not been fulfilled.

But instead of members of the PNP administration taking the blame for

overpromising or for their ineptness, the prime minister and her surrogates are again feeding the people with fairy dust and fairy tales. On Sunday, the prime minister decided to come out of her bunker and courageously mount the stage to face Jamaicans, telling us that we should temper our expectation about all the promises she had delivered before the election. This is such a sharp contrast from the prosperity gospel preached before the election

General Secretary Peter Bunting said Mrs Simpson Miller told the delegates at their meeting that the damage the JLP did in four years to the country could not be repaired within eight short months. But how could this statement be true, when The Economist and leading international organisations lauded the Golding Administration for its handling of the global economic downturn, as well as for its leadership in refinancing the country’s debt? Given the enormous tax revenue that was appropriated to debt servicing when Bruce Golding took over, had it not been for the adroit manoeuvre and resoluteness of his administration in retiring the debt inherited, the country would not have been in a position to ride out the global recession, and quite likely we could have been in worse shape than we are now.

Jamaicans never voted for a baby sitter or a mama; we voted for our lives to be better. The claim that the prime minister has special love for the people is very difficult to sustain these days. Her extended hibernation is hurting her message of love for the people. Voters, please heed this warning: the next time a politician comes in the name of love to seek your votes, kindly ask him or her what love has to do with it. We demand respect from our politicians, not their love.

Courtney Anderson

tafari1_2000@yahoo.com