President of the People’s National Party Youth Organization (PNPYO), Krystal Tomlinson, has broken her silence on the controversial letter she wrote to People’s National Party (PNP) President, Dr Peter Phillips, demanding his resignation.

The letter was written days after the PNP suffered a massive general election loss. It outlined some of the factors that contributed to their defeat and demanded that Phillips resign within 30 days.

Related story: Jamaica Labour Party sweeps Jamaica’s elections

The letter was broadly criticised as having an arrogant tone and labeled as self-serving.

And in a video posted to her Instagram page late Tuesday night, a somber Tomlinson acknowledged that the substance of the letter was lost because of how it was written.

“When you communicate, you do so with a goal; you want people to understand substantively what your concern, your recommendation, your point is. If your substance gets lost in style, you have failed as a communicator. And this week, the substance of a letter from the PNPYO with my signature as president got lost in style,” she said.

“In future, there is a key learning there for me about crafting in a more elegant way, thoughts, recommendations and even criticisms. Penning it in a way so people get the substance and not get lost on the style. And that is something that I own, without reservation. It’s a consequence of poor style.”

Youth consultation

Tomlinson also explained that the views expressed in the letter were not hers but were representative of the position of the organisation she leads. She also shared that the PNPYO arrived at those views after consulting with the youth.

“I will not back away from all the criticisms that have come, but I want to make it abundantly clear that this should not be made a ‘Krystal’ issue,” she said.

“One hundred persons were engaged in a survey, and through that survey, we were able to glean the views and positions of young people on what we must do now to move forward.”

She also pledged that the PNPYO will be working to pioneer change within its own organisation.

“We are not going to absolve ourselves of the responsibility of the role we have to improve our delivery of service to young people, to make ourselves more attractive to young people, and to make ourselves more relevant to the cause of youth advocacy in this country,” she said.