The Editor, Sir:

I have been watching with dismay the response of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to The Sunday Gleaner's expose of the financing of her overseas travel. In their strident knee-jerk defence of any criticism of the Prime Minister and attacking of the messenger mentality, the OPM seemed to have missed the point.

I certainly do not begrudge the Prime Minister of Jamaica travelling in a manner which meets the security and protocol requirements of a head of government. Nor do I have any reason to believe that the monies spent on these trips were not spent for the purpose of the Prime Minister's official travels.

The issue for me is that the OPM does not seem to grasp the concept of the rule of law. If the Prime Minister or the Minister of Finance can arbitrarily flout the regulations made by the Government which set the per diem travelling allowance, what message does that send to the wider society? The arrogance suggested by this behaviour is compounded by the fact that these regulations were created by the same persons who now so brazenly flout them.

Change the regulations

Unlike most of us who chafe at outdated or ill-conceived laws or regulations, these people have the power to actually change those regulations. If the per diem allowance is too low to meet the real world requirements of a travelling Prime Minister, then the response of the Government should be to change those regulations, and not to flout them with impunity!

In a country seemingly awash in lawlessness, where policemen are allegedly implicated in shootouts, bribery and robberies; where one finds motor vehicles on the road blatantly displaying blue lights in obvious violation of the Road Traffic Act; where banned medications are openly sold on the streets of Kingston by unlicensed 'pharmacists', one would think that the people who lead us would understand the importance of encouraging respect for the rule of law.

Madam Prime Minister, it goes to the heart of the kind of society you want to build. Do you want to build a society of men, where citizens pick and choose which laws and regulations they will observe and when, or do we want a society of laws, where the law is respected by all citizens, not least by those who make the laws to begin with?

I am, etc.,

H. EDISON HUMPHRIES

edison9114@yahoo.com

P.O. Box 278583

Miramar, FL

Via Go-Jamaica