THE EDITOR, Sir:I WAS quite amazed by the controversy regarding the $20 million cost of the Prime Minister's overseas trips. I do not find these costs to be excessive by any stretch of the imagination. The Prime Minister ought to travel in a style and fashion that befits a head of state, especially a country such as Jamaica that enjoys worldwide prominence.
The arguments that have been posited in criticism of the PM are without merit when taken to their logical extremes, since they are based on the premises that because Jamaicans are economically disadvantaged, the head of state must be parsimonious when spending public funds for his travels.
Do we really believe that the plight of Jamaicans would have been better if the Prime Minister had discarded his security detail at the airport in Kingston, flown coach, hopped into a taxi when he reached his final decision, stayed in hotels that cost under US$100 nightly, and stopped in at the closest Pizza Hut or McDonald's for dining upon arrival in the host country?
Here in the United States, pastors of some churches spend much more in world travels in a single year than the Prime Minister of Jamaica spent over a four-year period.
The same folk who claim to be repulsed by the supposedly excessive spending would profess shame that their Prime Minister had held the country up to scorn and ridicule, had he exhibited the travel frugality that they have been prescribing.
After all, Jamaicans are a proud people who scintillate on the world stage, despite all the problems of crime and poverty, and they want to see their PM conduct himself with grace, dignity, and confidence. The stature of Jamaica would be greatly diminished were the Prime Minister to behave as if he represented a pauper's paradise.
Moreover, members of Congress, the media bigwigs, and representatives of the executive branch would not associate with a Prime Minister who was spending his evenings at hotels priced at under $100 per night, which, by the way, are usually populated by prostitutes and drug dealers.
I am, etc.,
EVERALD F. THOMPSON
Attorney-at-law
Etesq@aol.com
