Dear Editor,

I read with disgust statements made by Dr Carlton Davis, printed in the Daily Observer of Monday, December 16, 2013, regarding why the prime minister has to travel, and further by Sandrea Falconer that the Government needs a new communication strategy.

May I submit that those statements are pure rubbish!

All the Government needs to do is to have our prime minister, who was duly elected by the people, take the time to talk to us.

We do not need to find funds to pay a new set of consultants to come up with new strategies. And, with due respect to Dr Davis, we really do not want him to explain why she has to travel. We know it comes with the territory. What we want is to engage our leader in discussions about these trips. Is that too much to ask?

I suggest that each time the prime minister goes on a trip on behalf of her country, she calls a press conference and shares with the country the details of her assignment. That way we do not have to question anything, or reporters would not need to be hunting her down, because everything would be laid out on the table.

The people of Jamaica are not saying that the prime minister should not go on these trips but, in all fairness to us, we are really the ones who send her abroad in the first place. She is obligated to talk to us. Press briefings carried out in her absence or reports to Parliament will not suffice.

This, Ms Falconer, is my humbly submitted ‘no-cost’ strategy. Over to you.

Lone Soldier

ligro_jj@yahoo.com