Dear Editor,

As expressed to you recently, I remain extremely disturbed by the caricature of your cartoonist, Mr Clovis Brown, in the Sunday Observer of June 15, of me kicking a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) conductress from a bus, apparently in response to the known leakage of bus fares to the tune of over $30 million per month from the bus company.

While I acknowledge that I have often vented my concern about the leakage, I consider it to be either an act of naivety or intellectual dishonesty for a direct connection to have been made between the current redundancy programme involving conductresses, and the leakage. This is because extensive efforts have been made by both the ministry and the bus company to outline the fact that, like what exists internationally, major bus services are now moving towards single operator service, with the driver taking on the full functions of a bus. So while the roles of conductors and conductresses are being made redundant, the company has had to be focused on beefing up its complement of drivers, which is at present below the required numbers.

However, the most disturbing feature of the cartoon and something which I am getting legal advice on, was the association of me, an individual who has always maintained almost reverence for the dignity of women, with the vulgar display of the cartoon, depicting a kick being administered to the heart of womanhood, something I would never do, not even out of concern about such a high level of leakage, which I prefer to assume the Observer misguidedly linked to the redundancy programme.

Mr Editor, I take this opportunity to use this correspondence to register my disappointment and disgust with the cartoon, and my intention to respond to it appropriately. Please note that I was overseas on extended official business when the cartoon was published.

While I pursue my options, I invite your consideration of either prominently carrying this letter or an apology or clarification on the same letters page of one of your soon-to-be-published Observer issues, which may help to defuse my repulsion of the offending cartoon.

I take the opportunity to implore your team, as others in the media fraternity, to assess the impact of some of your actions more carefully, considering that the damage once done, is virtually impossible to be fully undone.

L Michael Henry
Minister of Transport and Works
138H Maxfield Avenue
Kingston 8

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