Dear Editor,

We have never had a prime minister in Jamaica who has remained so seemingly detached and painfully silent as the Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller. This apparent oath of silence could not have come at a more painful and critical time of our country’s history.

I understand that she wants to give a free hand to her appointed ministers, but at what point does she present herself as an active director and supervisor of the state of Jamaica?

As her silence becomes deafening, the Jamaican dollar continues to slide and inflation grows. The crime rate is out of control; there is no expressed plan to grow the economy; consumer confidence is at its lowest in 12 years; and the 360-megawatt project, having been mishandled, now seems elusive. Despite JEEP, the unemployment rate is growing; living conditions have declined and the curtain of hopelessness has virtually covered the window of dreams for better prospects.

I am not prepared to accept that the prime minister does not care, since she had labelled the previous Government as uncaring. I am not prepared to accept that the prime minister is bereft of workable ideas, because she campaigned with a promise to deliver. I am not prepared to accept that the prime minister is not in charge of her Government, even when it looks that way.

However, I am prepared to believe that Mrs Simpson Miller is not providing the leadership that we need at this crucial juncture. I am prepared to believe that she has ridden this silent horse for too long and it will lead to the death of her political life and the destruction of our country. If she is “working, working, working,” and not talking, talking, talking, then we must see the evidence of the work, or she needs to do some talking.

Laval Wilkinson

Ontario, Canada