Dear Editor,

The member of parliament for St Ann North Western Dr Dayton Campbell has been making much about former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members joining his party, describing it as the “labourisation” of the People’s National Party (PNP). Campbell has been extremely strident in his self-appointed role as “chief PNP palace guard”.

In reference to the membership of Joan Gordon-Webley, he said she must first demonstrate that she has “walked the road to Damascus” before being accepted into the PNP.

Surprising to many, his colleague MP for St Andrew East Rural — a seat to which it was rumoured Gordon-Webley may be heading — was more welcoming. Even if only in good jest, Damion Crawford was cordial and showed no signs of disapproval or discomfort with the move by the leadership of the PNP to accept his former political rival. Not so, however, for Dr Campbell. To help drive home his point, he made a social media tweet, “our ting different from fi dem”.

It is irrefutable that the younger generation of the PNP, such as Crawford, Mikael Phillips, Hugh Buchanan, PNPYO President Alrick Campbell, Raymond Pryce, and others, can stake a claim to the PNP. This is based predominantly on their historical family ties. More importantly, they have never been a member of, or otherwise associated with, any other political party, and certainly not the JLP. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Dr Campbell, who himself would have walked that very road to Damascus of which he speaks.

I invite Dr Campbell to confirm or deny that in 2004, when he ran for the presidency of the UWI Guild of Students, he was a member of the Mona Campus Youth League, the UWI chapter of G2K — the young professional arm of the JLP. If so, his campaign would have been assisted by them. It would, therefore, have been later that Dr Campbell joined the PNP. If history confirms this, Dr Campbell would have played his own part in the “labourisation” of the PNP. This was even a matter of discussion among friends when he ran for president of the PNPYO.

Now, I admire people who are willing to defend their positions, forcefully, based on principle and conviction. Equally, however, I resent public utterances that seem selfish and opportunistic.

Sharon Bennett-Whyte

Ironshore, Montego Bay

bennett-whyte@hotmail.com