THE EDITOR, Sir:
IN REGARD to the recent article 'Diaspora in no rush to vote here', published on June 28, I would like to find out from the Diaspora Advisory Board in the United States where they conducted this poll that says Jamaicans in the U.S., Canada and England do not want to vote in Jamaica.
Up to five weeks ago Mr. Jose Richards, executive director of Sons and Daughters of Jamaica, Inc., and I spoke with Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade at an event in New York City about why Jamaicans in foreign lands are not allowed to vote in Jamaica. I have had discussions with hundreds of Jamaicans living in New York, Canada, Saudi Arabia and England, thousands of whom are not citizens of the United States. It is only logical that the only place that they can vote is Jamaica.
The Diaspora Advisory Board needs to have grass-root members on its board and reach down to grass-root Jamaicans with their questions and agendas before
making such a claim which is
totally out of line.
Until the Diaspora Advisory Board meets with the grass roots, they have no right to make such statement.
I am, etc.,
AMIR ABDULLAH
MUHAMMED
Abdul-Akbar
1045 Ocean Avenue, Suite 06
Brooklyn, New York 11226
