The Editor, Sir:

Over the past week, or so, there has been outrage in the society concerning the statements of Robert Montague and Everald Warmington, junior government ministers.

This outrage arose from the appearance of 'pork barrel' politics, which was a staple of the political landscape of old and which we thought had no place in the political paradigm of present-day Jamaica. This new dispensation was heralded from the voting booths by the Jamaican electorate on September 3, 2007 in the form of the razor-thin majority it gave the JLP. Both parties have lessons to learn from the election results.

However, it appears that Robert Pickersgill has not yet got the message. On Nationwide News (Dec 12/07) he refused to put the statement of A.J. Nicholson (vote for Kern and you will get the water) in the same category of Montague and Warmington. Am I foolish to expect honesty from a senior politician and chairman of the PNP? Sharon Hay-Webster ha the hypocrisy by calling for an ethics committee of Parliament to examine the statements of the JLP ministers. She did not see it fit to extend this to all statements made by politicians on both sides.

Issues

Let's put aside the political posturing of the PNP and examine a few issues:

1. All people (politicians included) will make mistakes. However, it is not so much the mistakes that we make, but the level of remorse we express and our willingness to accept our error that will determine if we receive the forgiveness of those we offend.

2. Should we call for blood at the first offence or should a contrite person be given an opportunity at redemption?

3. No one has addressed the response of the crowd who were cheering when the statements were being made. Could it be that some of us give tacit approval to these types of statement by our own reaction or lack thereof?

4. Can the Prime Minister pass this test of his leadership and show the Jamaican people that the confidence placed in him by the electorate was not misplaced?

One could easily conclude that termites had infested the brains of the two gentlemen in question at the time that they were speaking. However, the bigger issue appears to be the, seeming, intellectual depravity of a large proportion of our people who chose to 'run with it', rather than demand that our political representatives move full speed ahead to curb their pomposity and provide a higher level of leadership. The people crave leadership. Your move, Mr Golding.

I am, etc.,

DANIEL BROWN

Cumberland, St Catherine