JAMAICA | Seaga's Call for a Golding Apology hypocritical, misconceived says PNP's Brown-Burke

Dear Members of the PSOJ,

We have carefully reviewed the recent statement made by Metry Seaga, President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), urging the PNP President, Mark Golding, to apologise  for the unfortunate remarks made by the former Chairman of the PNP’s Human Rights Commission, Mr Isat Buchanan. 

While we appreciate and share the PSOJ's concern about maintaining respect and civility within our society, we disagree with your call for a personal apology from the Leader and are disheartened by the glaring bias clearly evident in your statement.

We emphasise that the People's National Party (PNP) took immediate and decisive action upon learning about Isat Buchanan's inappropriate comments directed at Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Miss Paula Llewellyn.

PNP President Mark Golding spoke with Mr Buchanan the same night the comments were made. Mr Buchanan resigned promptly from his position as Chairman of the Human Rights Commission on the same night and issued a public apology.

The PNP Women's Movement also publicly condemned Mr Buchanan's statements, reaffirming the PNP's unwavering commitment to respect for women and gender equity.

We, therefore, find this request by the PSOJ for an apology from Mr Golding to be misconceived.

While we appreciate the PSOJ's concerns about civility and decorum in public discourse, we also expect that such calls for accountability be applied uniformly across all political parties and their members. 

It is important to Jamaica that the PSOJ remains impartial and consistent in holding all leaders and organizations accountable for their actions and statements.

We, therefore, find this request by the PSOJ also to be hypocritical, as this organisation has never made such a request of Prime Minister Andrew Holness and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), despite the many utterances and remarks made by Members of Parliament and his Party.

For example, at no time has the PSOJ asked Mr Holness to apologise for the frequent outbursts and insults made by MP Everald Warmington to women, other Parliamentarians and the Media. 

Perhaps the worst of all is PM Holness inviting Mr Osbourne Ellis alias Peanut Dread to be his personal guest during his contribution to the Budget Debate in Parliament. 

Peanut Dread can be regarded as one of the worst exponents of crass and violent statements about women. 

The behaviour of MP George Wright, who was caught on video using a stool to beat a woman and Councillor David Brown, who has been the subject of multiple charges of physically abusing women and the elderly, have escaped the reprimand of the PSOJ.

In fact, the PSOJ has remained silent on the daily disrespectful utterances made by its own Private Sector member, Kevin O’Brien Chang.

The PNP has always stood for respect, dignity, and accountability, especially when it comes to issues concerning women's rights.

We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of decorum and conduct within our party and hold our members accountable for their actions.

Sincerely,

Dr Angela Brown-Burke, MP
Chairman of the People’s National Party