Arscott’s shameful tribal comments
Dear Editor,
I feel compelled to agree wholeheartedly with Robert Dalley who wrote a well-written letter published in the Jamaica Observer of October 13, 2016. He asked, “Why is Arscott seeking to politically discredit and tear down Government’s impressive preparedness? Where is the evidence to substantiate the claims from Arscott that the Government politicised the distribution of hurricane relief items?”
As a concerned citizen, I am truly disappointed in Arscott trying to shamefully discredit the Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie, when he and government agencies (Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, National Meteorological Centre, etc) all did a remarkable job of preparing the country for the hurricane.
Minister McKenzie and Prime Minister Andrew Holness were on the ground ensuring that the agencies did what was necessary to put the country in a prepared position to face the hurricane if it came through Jamaica. Over three hundred shelters were opened across the 14 parishes managed by parish councils, and the shelter managers were in direct charge of supervising them.
Dalley asked other important questions in his Observer letter, “Why didn’t Arscott implement complete local government reform while serving as local government minister? Why did he allow the Jamaica Fire Brigade to rundown during his tenure as minister? He should be embarrassed for allowing the fire service to be totally neglected and not equipped under his watch. Now he has the audacity to be criticising the Government on every talk show and in Parliament when the Government acted promptly and professionally in activating its emergency hurricane centre and gave the country regular updates on the hurricane and its tracking information.
Arscott’s sort of tribal politics has no place in today’s Jamaica. I am really ashamed of Arscott.
But should I be surprised of Arscott’s tribal comments when the Opposition party has been a disaster to date with a lame duck team of spokespersons.
Andrew Bedasse
Lucea PO, Hanover
andrewbedasse@yahoo.com
