Dear Editor,

Jamaica Observer columnist Michael Burke in his column, ’20 years after the death of Michael Manley’, published on Thursday, March 9, 2017 stated inter alia: “Twenty years after the death of Michael Manley, Dr Peter Phillips is to become PNP president and opposition leader. A newspaper columnist who had taken a rest for about 10 months recently wrote a negative article about Phillips. Missing from that article is that when Dr Peter Phillips was minister of transport he established the Jamaica Urban Transit Company.”

I am assuming that Mr Burke was referring to the erudite, widely read, and highly respected Sunday Observer columnist Garfield Higgins’ article, ‘The many faces of Peter Phillips’, appearing on Sunday, March 5, 2017. Granted that I am correct then I must hasten to say that Mr Burke misrepresented the truth, and for that he owes Mr Higgins an apology.

I strongly suggest that Mr Burke go back and read that article once more. Contrary to what he would have readers believe, Mr Higgins did make mention of the establishment of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) under Dr Phillips’ watch, using a full paragraph in doing so. Mr Higgins, in according credit to Dr Phillips for the establishment of the JUTC stated, “Phillips was transport and works minister from 1998 to October 2001. To his eternal credit he ushered in a decent transportation system in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) in 1998. The groundwork for what is today the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) Limited was started in 1995 when the then Government decided that the time had come to restructure the public transport sector and invest in infrastructure to bring order to public transportation in the KMTR. Before the advent of the JUTC what existed in the KMTR for public transportation was a disaster.”

I must further hasten to say that Mr Burke’s claim that Mr Higgins failed to indicate that when Dr Phillips was minister of transport he established the JUTC cannot be taken lightly, because it was an act of mendacity coming from one who, as a writer, is held to a high standard, and such act is not an asset to his credibility.

George LawsonBronx, New YorkMrgeelaws@yahoo

George Lawson

Bronx, New York

Mrgeelaws@yahoo