Dear Editor,

We are proud of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for being acknowledged by Time magazine in New York City. However, we believe she should have cut her entourage in a time of economic hardship, especially when a tough budget is to be presented.

Travelling with such a large delegation, especially before what will be the tabling of a difficult budget, sends a bad signal. The prime minister missed a grand opportunity to issue a message to the Jamaican people that she too is willing to tighten her belt as most Jamaicans have been forced to do.

Specifically, we question why special advisers Delano Franklyn and Dr Carlton Davis, as well as chairman of Clarendon Alumina Partners Dr Vin Lawrence, are on the trip. What do they bring to the table that the three ministers travelling with her could not? I refer to Senator Sandrea Falconer, Tourism Minister Wykeham McNeill and Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell.

We demand to know the full details on this delegation; their specific roles as well as the cost of the trip to the taxpayers. The government must show the country that they too are doing all they can to contain expenditure.

Marlene Watson-Evans

General Secretary, Women’s Freedom Movement

Kingston