Dear Editor,

I recently heard Prime Minister Andrew Holness speaking about how it was important for him to ask Ruel Reid to resign and how they are “professional” friends and blah, blah, and more blah.

But the thought did not hit me the same time that Ruel Reid’s position at Jamaica College is still technically unresolved seeing that he has been arrested and now before the courts.

Indeed, there are many precedents where people have had to resign from all their substantive posts until the courts have made a final decision on charges brought against them. We should be able to ask any of the five recently appointed Queen’s Counsel about this.

But let us use some old-time logic here. If the prime minister, who is the de facto minister of education, could have essentially fired Ruel Reid as minister of education, why then did he not do so after the police had arrested him?

The prime minister said himself that he requested and received Reid’s resignation after certain information came to light about the minister’s alleged actions. But I am yet to hear from the prime minister what exactly was the information that came to public knowledge. We all know there is a lot of fake news out there. Indeed, the prime minister loves to talk about being aware of fake news, he should have been the person to clear the air as to exactly why he fired Ruel Reid.

The fact is the prime minister has the authority and capacity to fire Ruel Reid as principal right now without even having to wait for a court ruling based on the information, fake or not, that he had.

I know the prime minister loves reggae music, and so I would like to introduce him to the Fantan Mojah classic, which he can easily find on YouTube, titled Corruption.

Mark Trought

marktrought@gmail.com