Attorney-at-law Jacqueline Samuels-Brown accepts a framed copy of her Silver Pen award-winning letter from Byron Buckley, associate editor at The Gleaner Company Ltd., at the newspaper's North Street, central Kingston, offices yesterday. - Winston Sill/Freelance PhotographerJacqueline Samuels-Brown not only tackles topical issues when she pens her Letters to the Editor, but also provides the detailed facts in such a way that the common man may understand.
It is, therefore, not surprising that Mrs. Samuels-Brown copped her second Silver Pen Award from The Gleaner Company in nine months.
A lawyer for 27 years, Mrs. Samuels-Brown argued that necessary steps should be taken to set up an independent forensic laboratory that would be available to poor defendants fo opinions in her letter, 'Independent forensic lab needed'.
The Letter of the Day, which appeared on June 19, came on the heels of the bungled Bob Woolmer investigation.
"I am absolutely thrilled ... I am going to put this one (the award) in my office. The other one is at my study at home," she said.
Dear to her heart
Mrs. Samuels-Brown said that the letter was dear to her heart as it was written at a time when she was a member of an ongoing Justice Reform Task Force, which has proposed reform of the laws in Jamaica.
"The whole issue of reform of laws was very much at the forefront of my mind and I felt that the public was not sufficiently sensitised about these issues which affect ordinary people on a day-to-day basis," she said.
With regards to the reform of laws, one such issue that is current is that of political representatives holding dual citizenship.
Mrs. Samuels-Brown noted that other Caribbean territories within their constitution also speak to the issue.
"Interestingly, our Constit-ution doesn't pose the question in terms of dual citizenship, but rather in terms of allegiance. Have you pledged allegiance? And so, if you have inherited your citizenship ... there is not a problem. But if you go out and say my allegiance is to you and you primarily, does it create a conflict of interest?"
Coincidentally, Mrs. Samuels-Brown's next Letter to the Editor may be about dual citizenship and pledging allegiance to a country, she said.
"It's an interesting issue, the pros and cons," she said.