THE EDITOR, Sir:

It is with a sense of total disgust that I write to express my disbelief and disappointment at the behaviour of the Mayor of Kingston, Desmond McKenzie, on his conduct as seen on national television in response to Roger Clarke's purported statement.

Having no prior knowledge of Mr. Clarke's statement, I was able to come up with an independent, unbiased con-clusion that the behaviour of Mayor McKenzie was indeed the lowest for a person holding such an office or of such high calibre.

To make matters worse, at the Jamaica Labour's Party (JLP) rally in Independence Square, Savanna la Mar, as reported on page A4 of The Gleaner of Wednesday, August 1, (Emancipation Day), and I quote, "Party stalwarts condemned Clarke for warning Jamaicans not to vote for the Labour Party as they were hungry for power and would "rape" the country."

Unwarranted response

In my view, such statement would not warrant such outburst. As a matter of fact, the word 'rape' there was not used in the physical sense which, I am certain that a person in his high esteem was well aware.

Therefore, his response was totally unnecessary and shows a level of ignorance, which is expected, (if at all), from a person below the office of a mayor.

Additionally, instead of publicly or privately correcting Mayor McKenzie on his outburst, our worthy contender for the office of Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, continued the onslaught by adding to the ridicule in his address, and I quote, "Addressing the meeting Golding suggested that a swing was taking place in the constituency and it was having a serious effect on Clarke. Anytime I hear him these days, he is beginning to sound like Danny Buchanan and that is not good. (Roger) is suffering from an acute disease and it is called Hammonditis'." (The Gleaner, August 1, section 4A)

Apart from my thinking that a change would be ideal for Jamaica at this present time, I could not vote for the JLP.

My allegiance is to Jamaica, which I have little hope at this time of it ever recovering to its former glory and, in my view, both parties have failed our ancestors. As a matter of fact, both Bustamante and Manley and all the others for that matter would cringe in their graves if they could see the Jamaica of today.

Driving a wedge

Are our politicians mindful of the fact that their words are driving a wedge between people ('Out of many, one people' - our motto). And if they are aware, do they care?

Politics has become a 'dirty' business and the days, when as a child, I witnessed meetings held by both political parties only a stone's throw away where information could be accessed from one side and carried to the other and effigies used to bury members of each party are long gone.

Today, instead, those clean, fun-filled activities have been replaced with the 'barking' of guns, and the lives of innocent Jamaicans are ushered out with little or no concern (mark you, by both parties).

Mayor McKenzie's outburst, therefore, is a continuation of the all time new low that Jamaica is now enjoying, and may I say, the accepted norms/behaviour by those holding the high offices and perhaps the population at large.

I am, etc..

CAC