The Editor, Sir:
Thursday night's broadcast of a forum on the Caribbean Court of Appeal was enlightening. Hopefully, it may even prove to be an antidote to public apathy and ignorance on the subject and prompt more of us to consider the fundamental question which is: Why, with our justice system in shambles and lacking both the will and the funds to improve it, is our government seeking to compound and confuse the issue with an expensive, untried, unpopular and controversial court, when the U.K. Privy Council, an impartial body accessible to the poorest Jamaican, continues to provide sound and objective judgements?
The meeting was sponsored by Jamaicans for Justice and the Jamaican Bar Association and inevitably, the moral malaise of society came in for scrutiny and in particular, the traditonal and current bonds between criminals and political parties the nexus that has spawned the current crime pandemic and makes a solution virtually impossible. Mr. Richard Small is not a man to beat around the bush. In his brilliant and moving presentation, he also reminded us that three of the contenders for PNP leadership felt it necessary to attend the funeral of Willie Haggart.
corruption of the media
Mr. John Maxwell, in answering a question from the audience, made the interesting observation that corruption starts with the corruption of the media; something to think about even if you don't agree. Mr. Frank Phipps called for people to get informed and get involved. He highlighted the fact that government has deteriorated to the point where members of Parliament have become a mere rubber stamp for the decisions of Cabinet. He
suggested that members had an obligation to their constituents to make their voices heard, for example, in cases where a minister is performing badly, or not
performing at all, we must call for his resignation.
Emboldened by this very good piece of advice, Mr. Editor, I would now like to make a public appeal to my member of Parliament, Mrs. Verna Parchment (Northwest St. Ann) to call for the resignation of the Minister of Security, Hon. Peter Phillips (poor performance), the Minister of Health Hon. John Junor, (very poor performance) and the Minister of Environment, Hon. Dean Peart (not performing at all). I would be only too happy to help provide her with substantiating data.
I am etc.,
MARGARET MORRIS
moresis@cwjamaica.com.
