Dear Editor,
I was looking forward to Dr Christopher Tufton's lunch-hour speech last week on how civil society organisations were bedeviled by the perception of political bias. What a disappointment it turned out to be.
Under the guise of making an analytical presentation, Dr Tufton merely complained about the perceived leaning of certain select organisations towards the People's National Party (PNP).
He could have saved his speech by also mentioning the Jamaicans For Justice, the Dennis Meadows-led CAPI, the Bustamante Institute for Political Affairs, Families Against State Terrorism, and the several others with a leaning towards the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Beyond that, Dr Tufton should know that it is not enough to lament the political leaning of civil society organisations. The question is, why are they not leaning towards the JLP? Is the JLP not attractive enough? If so, the party has some work to do. Complaining just won't cut it.
Moreover, there is nothing wrong with those organisations having a political leaning towards any of the parties. After all, their members are part of the general society and are entitled to their political views.
What they shouldn't do is to blindly support a political party while pretending to be objective, which is what Dr Tufton was doing.
John T Baugh
jotdown@yahoo.com
You disappoint, Dr Tufton
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I was looking forward to Dr Christopher Tufton's lunch-hour speech last week on how civil society organisations were bedeviled by the perception of political bias. What a disappointment it turned out to be.
Under the guise of making an analytical presentation, Dr Tufton merely complained about the perceived leaning of certain select organisations towards the People's National Party (PNP).
He could have saved his speech by also mentioning the Jamaicans For Justice, the Dennis Meadows-led CAPI, the Bustamante Institute for Political Affairs, Families Against State Terrorism, and the several others with a leaning towards the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Beyond that, Dr Tufton should know that it is not enough to lament the political leaning of civil society organisations. The question is, why are they not leaning towards the JLP? Is the JLP not attractive enough? If so, the party has some work to do. Complaining just won't cut it.
Moreover, there is nothing wrong with those organisations having a political leaning towards any of the parties. After all, their members are part of the general society and are entitled to their political views.
What they shouldn't do is to blindly support a political party while pretending to be objective, which is what Dr Tufton was doing.
John T Baugh
jotdown@yahoo.com
You disappoint, Dr Tufton
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