Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
( L - R ) SMITH, PARCHMENT and DABDOUB
JAMAICA LABOUR Party (JLP) Deputy Leader, Derrick Smith, yesterday
reaffirmed the party's position that Members of Parliament Abe Dabdoub and Verna
Parchment left because of their 'non-performance'.
Speaking at the JLP's monthly Area One meeting, held yesterday at the Undergrad School, 17 Dunrobin Avenue, St. Andrew, Mr. Smith challenged Labourites not to compromise their standards ahead of the next general election, but to work to ensure the party wins at least 10 seats in the Corporate Area. At present, the JLP has eight seats in the Corporate Area.
Mr. Dabdoub is the MP for East. St. Catherine while Mrs. Parchment holds the North West St. Ann seat.
PRESSURE
Mr. Smith said: "The facts are, both Mr. Dabdoub and Mrs. Parchment were not good representatives in their constituency. None of them, no one can dispute that for whatever reason, they weren't good enough representatives and pressure was brought to bear on them not by the leadership of the party, but by people in their constituency."
However, he urged supporters "not to believe the hype"; the JLP he maintained would be ready for the next election.
Opposition Spokes-man on Justice, Delroy Chuck, in a speech delivered last Friday at a Generation 2000 meeting, a party affiliate, said the JLP lacks readiness.
And turning to the incumbent People's National Party (PNP) Government which is now headed by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Mr. Smith charged: "It is the same set of people, it is the same leadership!"
Alluding to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's current rhetoric of 'love' and 'compassion' he argued that it had been absent during security force's 1997 and 2001 'invasions' of Tivoli Gardens.
"Did you hear anyone talking about poor people being brutalised by the agents of state?" he asked the party faithful.
