Dear Editor,

The following is an open letter to United Kingdom Member of Parliament Philip Hollobone:

I am Jamaican and note your comments on the recent decision by the Jamaican Government to turn down your offer to repatriate people who committed crimes in your country who are Jamaican.

I would empathise, had it not been for your country’s culpability in Jamaica being in the predicament it is in economically and socially, causing many, if not most of these people to be in your country in the first place.

Unless and until your country pays (reparation) to the descendants of the enslaved Africans who for centuries you had in slavery, there will be Jamaicans and people from countries you have colonised to build your empire committing crimes in your country. They may not represent the best and brightest of us who work hard and honestly to improve the spaces they live in, but for those Jamaicans who chose a life of crime, like your buccaneers, pirates and governors, you should find a way to deal with it, or pay all descendants for the service, labour, intellectual property, and worst of all torture, your country inflicted on my people. We would then be a lot less likely to consider moving to your country to do anything, including crime.

For now, all I can say to you and your colleagues who share your sentiment is, what goes around comes around. deal with it, or pay us for the crimes you committed against humanity by enslaving us, and we will take ours back.

Twenty-five million pounds doesn’t compensate for 400 years of slavery, millions dead, cultures destroyed, Africa left in disorder, and Jamaica a nut case.

I can only imagine the glee in your Parliament on witnessing the absolute foolishness that passes for governance in my country. But we have to deal with that reality.

Hugh M Dunbar, AIAhmdenergy@gmail.com

Hugh M Dunbar, AIA

hmdenergy@gmail.com