Dear Editor,
I read with outrage an article wherein the Finance and Planning Minister Dr Peter Phillips stated that "the PNP has done all it can for poor Jamaicans", at the same time urging Jamaicans to again vote for the People's National Party (PNP) in the next general election.
Has the honourable minister hit his head? I go back to the medical analogy that he favours: If I am ailing and go to the doctor, who tells me he cannot help me, but that I should come again next week for him to assess my situation and proceed to give me the same grim prognosis, when I could consult with another doctor who may be able to help me, am I not an imbecile?
If the PNP has done all it possibly can for poor Jamaicans, then why are so many Jamaicans still poor? Why are so many Jamaicans unable to secure employment? Why are so many Jamaicans not being provided with the tools to dig themselves out of poverty? And, more importantly, why has Jamaica's poverty increased to one-fifth of the population?
It is absolutely mind-boggling to me that a Government that is charged with improving the lives of Jamaicans all across the board, including the poor and vulnerable, can say they've done all they can when the condition of the poor has improved not one bit; in fact, it has got worse. I simply cannot understand it. You have done all you can when there is a marked improvement in the lives of the poor.
And what's even more ridiculous is the call for Jamaicans, including the poor -- for whom they have done nothing, but claim they have done all they can -- to help them maintain their position of leadership of the country. There's a Jamaican saying that goes, "Tom drunk, but Tom nuh fool." This could very well apply to us poor Jamaicans: "Wi poor, but wi nuh fool," and we certainly do not want to stay poor.
Davion Redman
davionredman@hotmail.com
Has the PNP really done all it can for the poor?
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I read with outrage an article wherein the Finance and Planning Minister Dr Peter Phillips stated that "the PNP has done all it can for poor Jamaicans", at the same time urging Jamaicans to again vote for the People's National Party (PNP) in the next general election.
Has the honourable minister hit his head? I go back to the medical analogy that he favours: If I am ailing and go to the doctor, who tells me he cannot help me, but that I should come again next week for him to assess my situation and proceed to give me the same grim prognosis, when I could consult with another doctor who may be able to help me, am I not an imbecile?
If the PNP has done all it possibly can for poor Jamaicans, then why are so many Jamaicans still poor? Why are so many Jamaicans unable to secure employment? Why are so many Jamaicans not being provided with the tools to dig themselves out of poverty? And, more importantly, why has Jamaica's poverty increased to one-fifth of the population?
It is absolutely mind-boggling to me that a Government that is charged with improving the lives of Jamaicans all across the board, including the poor and vulnerable, can say they've done all they can when the condition of the poor has improved not one bit; in fact, it has got worse. I simply cannot understand it. You have done all you can when there is a marked improvement in the lives of the poor.
And what's even more ridiculous is the call for Jamaicans, including the poor -- for whom they have done nothing, but claim they have done all they can -- to help them maintain their position of leadership of the country. There's a Jamaican saying that goes, "Tom drunk, but Tom nuh fool." This could very well apply to us poor Jamaicans: "Wi poor, but wi nuh fool," and we certainly do not want to stay poor.
Davion Redman
davionredman@hotmail.com
Has the PNP really done all it can for the poor?
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