THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT MUST have been a sight to behold to see the grown man, and in his case, the very grown man cry his tears of disappointment in full public view at (as it turned out) the temporary loss of some of his prestige at the recently concluded PNP conference. Whoever said that there was no compassion left in politics in Jamaica?
By all accounts Roger 'Cry, Cry' Clarke's performance in the race to retain his Vice Presidential role of the PNP was not auspicious from the start and it duly came crashing down for all to see and for him to cry himself into an Emeritus position as hastily created as the impromptu national holiday declared when the Reggae Boys qualified for France 98.
P.J. 'Unnu Now Have More Gal' Patterson is nothing else if not extremely kind to his friends and close colleagues. Might the historians among us answer this. Has there ever been an Emeritus vice-president of the PNP? Just imagine the power of tears, you just never know what you might achieve if you cry in public.
What Jamaica needs is a British style House of Lords which is stacked high of former Members of Parliament who have either retired or been rejected by popular vote. Perhaps the PM should expand the Senate and make proper preparation for former MP's who are still too young to be put out to pasture.
Is there a lesson from all this crying? I would say yes. The country is full of unemployed youngsters and especially those who have recently graduated. The salutary advice to them is that they should just all burst out crying and somewhere, somehow somebody might just create a job for them.
Happy crying!
I am, etc.,
SEYMOUR STEWART
seymour.stewart@lycos.co.uk
London, UK
Via Go-Jamaica
