FIRST, I have to respond to the letter in last Thursday’s edition of the Observer by Lincoln Robinson, press secretary to the prime minister, that at the first media briefing not attended by me, it was clearly stated that the post-Cabinet briefings would be revamped.

I could not have attended the briefing although I wanted to, because I was not invited. This, Mr Robinson fully well knows because I had complained to him. My name was restored to the list of accredited representatives and I was invited to the briefing being done by minister of finance Dr Peter Phillips. After that, my name was again taken off the list and I was not invited to last Thursday’s press briefing by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

It is clear, therefore, that I am being barred from attending Simpson Miller’s press briefings.

It is also abundantly clear that those who organise Simpson Miller’s press briefings do not want journalists at her press briefings who are going to ask pertinent questions. I do not see the reason for barring any journalist from her press briefings, except malice. For many years, Portia and I have been on the best of relations to the extent that anywhere or any time she sees me she would come over and hug me tightly and kiss me.

I have to admit that on occasions she has been criticised by me. But I have also praised her effusively, where praise is due. I will continue to criticise and praise her. I still admire her for her magnificent struggle up the ladder from a teenage politician to prime minister on two occasions.

I got to know her more closely when I was an active member of the Campbell Town PNP Group under the leadership of Mr Ledgister in the 1950s. When I was press secretary to Prime Minister Michael Manley he used to say, “The word is love.” For me too, “The word is love, Portia.”

Jamaica House has become a place for vindictiveness since the PNP gGovernment took office in January. But I am not afraid of the vindictiveness. I suffered it before when they removed me as head of the Jamaica Information Service’s editorial division in 1976 because, as leader of the Press Association of Jamaica’s delegation at a Latin American journalists’ conference in Mexico City, I opposed a resolution by the Cuban delegation stating that the JLP and the US Central Intelligence Agency were creating violence so that Manley would not win the general election. The resolution was opposed because there was no hard evidence to support the allegations. Before he died, Manley agreed with this stance.

The prime minister has given only one press briefing of the four held since the beginning of the year. She ought to meet the press more frequently. It seems as if the revamping of press briefings was contrived to shield her as much as possible, but the Simpson Miller of today is a different leader from, say, 10 years ago. For one, she can defend herself and her gGovernment against the press with consummate ease.

Meanwhile, there have been three interesting comments on the Observer’s website in response to my column on Tuesday last week. They are:

* Mr Chaplin, this administration is busy using the first 100 days to cut everything from health care to transparency. “The post-Cabinet press briefing has become bastardised”, along with the radio talk Jamaica House Live and the Prime Minister’s Question Time in the House of Representatives. We were hoping for more transparency. However, ambiguity seems to be the full-course meal that will be dished out. How about a plate of Trafalgar stew or maybe some light bulbs…

Luv Quest.

* As I recall, the media rebelled in 2007 when Golding’s Government tried to get them to wait until Cabinet decisions had been shared with Parliament on Tuesdays. It was bad business for them to wait, they said. They are agreeing to the same now with hardly a murmur. Cabinet decisions aren’t being shared with the media on Monday evenings anymore. Instead, they’re being subjected to the prepared speeches from ministers.

Claude Russell.

* This administration hardly fears or respects the press. They instead love it. This is because this administration is the press’s own creation. So how do you criticise your own creation? It should be clear to people like Ken Chaplin that good journalists do not necessarily make good communications ministers. Their political agenda and motivation are what count. PJ’s intention was never to have the country know what was happening but simply acceding to a request from journalists…

Christopher Isaacs.

In the meantime, some unusual events are happening in the public service with transfers and replacements. My professional colleague, Lois Grant, was head of Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s Communication Office at Jamaica House and was fired by the permanent secretary even before the change of government had effectively taken place.

In the few days between the result of the general election, which the People’s National Party won by landslide 42-21, and the swearing-in of Mrs Simpson Miller as prime minister, Grant was given marching orders without her full pay package.

The Government also installed a full new slate of party supporters, many without experience, on the Port Authority of Jamaica’s new board. The outgoing board, all experienced people, made an unprecedented contribution to the development of the port of Kingston. One man survived the sweep — the chairman, Noel Hylton — who some say is irreplaceable.

The practice has been when a new government comes into place members of public sector boards resign, giving the prime minister a free hand to appoint or reappoint new members. Politically appointed members of the public service also resign. Historically, the most resignations I have seen were in 1980 after Edward Seaga’s JLP won the election. Communists, socialists and others overcommitted to the PNP just disappeared. They did not want to work with Seaga’s Government.