Whether lawyer Isat Buchanan was pushed by the hierarchy of the People’s National Party (PNP) or he decided on his own volition to resign his position as chairman of the party’s Human Rights Commission, is neither here nor there, he does not belong in polite company.

His choice of quoting murder convict Vybz Kartel’s rather vulgar and sexually explicit utterances — in a YouTube video — regarding the Director of Public Prosecutions Ms Paula Llewellyn, shockingly demonstrates that Mr Buchanan has no sense of decorum and would likely have put all members of his profession to shame.

We side with Gender Affairs Minister Ms Olivia Grange, who had earlier called on PNP President Mr Mark Golding to “immediately” fire Mr Buchanan over what she called “misogynistic, crude, nasty, sexist, low, and disgraceful language in reference to the country’s chief prosecutor”.

She is also correct in urging the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council (GLC) to immediately investigate Mr Buchanan over the comments which he made under the guise of quoting his client, the incarcerated dancehall star Vybz Kartel.

Speaking on behalf of the Jamaica Labour Party Women’s Caucus, Ms Grange said: “We are mindful not to appear to politicise the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the holder thereof. However, right is right, and wrong is wrong, and the truth of the matter is, if the holder of any office in the PNP or anywhere directed that comment at any female, we’d have condemned it and insisted that action be taken against him.”

Frankly, the PNP would have been looking better today if the organisation had gone further and demanded Mr Buchanan’s departure from the party as a signal that it does not tolerate such appalling behaviour from any PNP member.

In the circumstances, the PNP press statement saying, “He believes that resigning is in the party’s best interest, as the remarks in question do not reflect the values of the People’s National Party,” is lame and begs the question whether any action would have been taken had he not “resigned”.

The impression could have been given that Mr Buchanan was speaking for the PNP when he ‘dissed’ Ms Llewellyn, because it came in the context of the party’s call for her tenure as DPP not to be extended to age 65 and beyond.

Moreover, we are reminded about the contretemps between Mr Buchanan and the DPP, regarding the same Vybz Kartel during his trial on murder charges in 2020, when the attorney was alleged to have said on Loop news outlet:

“The DPP is being very dodgy and shady and very deliberate in their action to continue to violate the constitutional rights of Adidja Palmer (Kartel). Despite the attempts of myself and the Queen’s Counsel, we have been unable to get access to (his) cellphone, which we believe has evidence of tampering.”

Hitting back in a press statement, the DPP said: “We find this state of affairs absolutely shocking and we will demonstrate that Mr Buchanan would have been in a position to know that these allegations have no basis in fact.”

We can only hope that Mr Buchanan is not carrying on a vendetta against the DPP because his client lost the case. One must be always able to assume on professional grounds that an attorney is not ‘carrying feelings’ over a lost case.