Professor Trevor Munroe, Independent Senator, points to a question put to him last night when he appeared on The Gleaner's Go-Jamaica Talk 2000 web site. With him is Go-Jamaica's secretary, Claudette Brown. -- Winston Sill

HIS LIFE as a politician in the 1970s, his appointment as an Independent Senator, and his views on Jamaica's future, dominated the hour when Senator Trevor Munroe, university professor and trade unionist, appeared as a guest last night on the Talk 2000 series on The Gleaner's Go-Jamaica web site.

Some of the questions suggested that Jamaicans refuse to let go of the Marxist/Leninist policy Dr. Munroe embraced in the 1970s.

A three-part question from one participant was: "How do you feel about your accusation that members of the Communist Party of Jamaica (CPJ) were CIA agents?; Why did you dissolve the Workers Party of Jamaica"; and "Do you feel any guilt about your role in aborting the national democratic revolution in Grenada?"

"I don't recall calling all those people CIA. However, in the 1970s while there were real CIA around there was also much paranoia. I regret if I called anybody a CIA agent who was not,"was Prof. Munroe's response. On the WPJ, he said the party made a big contribution to social reform, for example the Maternity Leave Law and the raising of the consciousness of the Jamaican people.

But he admitted the ideology of the WPJ was "too rigid and we could not change to meet the needs of the Jamaican people." Dr. Munroe explained that while the WPJ supported and helped the revolution and the revolutionary leaders in Grenada in their achievements, the ideology which was shared and the organisational principles were not democratic enough, too rigid, and definitely contributed to the downfall of the revolution.

"I share political and moral responsibility for that," he said but stressed that neither himself nor the WPJ were involved in any of the crimes that helped to bring about the downfall of the revolution.

"I give the Government the benefit of the doubt," he said when asked whether his appointment as an Independent Senator was for the Government to score points. He added that the growth of independent opinion inside and outside political parties was a factor locally and overseas.

It was difficult to tell whether he was disturbed by a particular question as he calmly and without hesitation reeled off answers to all that time permitted him. And the scholar in him was evident from his first answer to the last as his responses were detailed and even with the limited time he had to think about the answers, carefully thought out. He lamented at the end of the hour that his answers were so long thus preventing him from answering more questions.

The strengthening of the quality and quantity of the education system and the provision of opportunities for people to fulfil their potential he described as Jamaica's greatest need.

And as to whether the ruling People's National Party was "drunk with power and not responding to the call for astute leadership", the professor said the administration had good intentions but needed to "practice what it preaches".

The University and Allied Workers' Union president said he was in favour of trade unions being more independent of political parties, and readers may be surprised to know that he represents a constituency -- the constituency of Independents.

To the overseas Jamaican who was worried about the seeming lack of accountability in Jamaica, he gave the assurance that this was not true for all Jamaicans, but mostly for those at the top.

On the decriminalisation of ganja, the Senator who pushed for the setting up of a committee to examine the matter, said he thought it "absolutely wrong" to give a criminal record to a youth found with a "spliff" when it has been scientifically established that alcohol and tobacco were more toxic than ganja.

For his student who wanted to know whether the exam on Monday will be difficult, the professor said: "The exam on Monday will not try to trick you but will test how far you have read and understood what we have covered so far."