THE EDITOR, Sir:

THIS LETTER is in response to the article by Heather Robinson titled 'Watch your own backyard.' Politics is politics, but persons' lives are a different story. There is nothing that Bruce Golding or Mr. Desmond McKenzie can do to prevent malaria in the West Kingston area. The buck does not stop at their door, but in the Ministry of Health, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and the National Solid Waste Authority.

We wiped out this disease years ago, but that does not mean that we completely stop the mitigation of the disease vector. The vector programme was stopped in 1986, but it does not suspend the functions of the health department and the other agencies to do routine tests of bodies of water which could pose a threat to public safety. If checks and controls were in place by the Ministries of Government, this problem would not even be an issue. The simple fact is that the inner cities were not a priority for the Government during its four-term reign of power; therefore, diseases such as malaria would begin to reappear. The People's National Party has brought us back to this and not the Jamaica Labour Party.

Let's put the responsibility at the foot of those who created the problem. Heather Robinson needs to stop playing politics with poor people's lives. The funds earmarked is a first step, as well as the private/public partnership with the labs for testing. Let's work for Jamaica and put people over politics.

I am, etc.,

CAROL MANLEY LAWTON Jr.

showa88@hotmail.com

Kingston 8

Via Go-Jamaica