Dear Editor,

We should be thankful for the quick manner in which Prime Minister Andrew Holness has moved in dealing with the telephone/data scandal involving his colleague and the country’s minister of finance, Audley Shaw.

PM, your decision to immediately direct that an investigation/audit be done on the massive phone bill racked up by Shaw, and that a cap be established for telephone usage by Government officials in the future are definitely good and positive moves in the right direction, although they are not enough to quell disquiet from the fact that the finance minister was loose and irresponsible in dealing with this issue.

But Mr Prime Minister, why is the audit you directed to take place being conducted by the ministry of which Mr Shaw is the head honcho? This certainly cannot be right.

When the Jamaica Labour Party was last in Government, then Prime Minister Bruce Golding established INDECOM to be the watchdog of the police force on the simple and logical premise that the police could not investigate themselves. So then, once this principle has been established, why change it?

Any investigation into the Shaw telephone bill scandal should be done by an independent agency or independent individuals. There is going to be no one in the finance ministry who will stick their necks out, because Minister Shaw is their boss.

Think on these things, Mr Prime Minister, as you have moved well, but possibly in the wrong direction.

Jay Atkinson

Montego Bay