Pot calling the kettle ‘selective’
Dear Editor,
I write in reference to a letter by one Donald Gayle published in the Jamaica Observer, Friday, September 20, 2019, ‘Be less selective, Professor’.
Donald states, inter alia, that my “silence is most deafening regarding the same allegations [as in East Portland by-election, of vote buying…and intimidation] in the recent PNP leadership election”.
Perhaps, rather than accusing me falsely of silence, Gayle needs to be himself “less selective” in overlooking my letter to the political ombudsman dated September 8, 2019. In that letter, I urged, inter alia, the ombudsman to “undertake an immediate investigation into allegations…of vote buying…and using dons to intimidate delegates”, charges and counter charges made public by the opposing sides on September 4 and 5.
I stated that if such conduct was substantiated it is “absolutely unacceptable to any Jamaican who stands for greater integrity in our country’s politics” and that it should be appropriately punished.
The allegation of silence suggests that the writer was also selective in failing to read the article written by Arthur Hall in the Observer ‘Ombudsman yet to decide on PNP probe’ (September 10, 2019) which makes reference to my letter to the ombudsman.
Selective reading appears to have been matched by selective listening by Gayle. He clearly did not hear quotations from my letter on the radio on September 9; nor did he listen to my half-hour discussion of the letter on Nationwide Radio (September 10) and a subsequent newscast on that station which carried voice clips of my calls on the matter.
This leads me to recommend: Be less selective, Donald Gayle.
Trevor Munroe
Executive Director
National Integrity Action
info@niajamaica.org