Bunting’s ‘john crow’ comment crude – Young Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Young Jamaica , the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) youth arm has rejected comments made by Minister of National Security Peter Bunting, in which he likened the leadership of the JLP to “john crows”.

“Some in the JLP leadership have been behaving like a set of john crows, like vultures, gleefully reacting to every loss of life as an opportunity to gain political mileage,” Bunting told Comrades at the People’s National Party (PNP) St Andrew Eastern conference at the University of the West Indies on Sunday.

In a release this morning, the group labeled the comment as “guttural, unbecoming and crude.”

According to them, “the country can, and should, engage in a meaningful conversation about the worrying trends in criminality without the minister of security seeking to debase and disrespect members of the Opposition.

“That is not the kind of political discourse we should be embracing as a country. Supporters of the ruling party who seemingly endorsed the comments should be ashamed of themselves,” Young Jamaica added.

The response of the minister is particularly unacceptable as it appears to take lightly the very real and present threat to public order and safety, the release said.

“Young Jamaica finds the comments made by Minister Bunting most shocking and outrageous. We would have hoped that he would have used the opportunity discuss the worrying crime trend.

To date, there are over 600 murders and the minister has not made any credible strategic intervention. Only recently, all of four people were cut down in Westmorland and he found time to assault the JLP,” the group argued.

Reacting to Bunting’s comments, Young Jamaica President Howard Chamberlain noted: “It seems this is now a trait of the PNP Government. Instead of offering meaningful responses to the issues affecting the country, they seek to launch personal and crude attacks against members of the Opposition. The Jamaican people won’t be fooled by all this hot air. We are demanding substance, not hype.”

Young Jamaica urged Minister Bunting to withdraw the statement and focus his attention on delivering results for Jamaica.