THE People’s National Party (PNP) has rejected calls from the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) for a personal apology from its president and leader of the Opposition Mark Golding in relation to disrespectful comments made by former chairman of the PNP’s Human Rights Commission Isat Buchanan toward the Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn.

The PNP in a statement to media Wednesday afternoon said while it appreciated and shared the PSOJ’s concern about maintaining respect and civility within our society, it disagreed with the PSOJ’s call for a personal apology from the leader and was disheartened by the glaring bias clearly evident in the PSOJ’s statement.

Further, the PNP said the party took immediate and decisive action upon learning about Buchanan’s inappropriate comments directed at Llewellyn.

“PNP President Mark Golding spoke with Mr Buchanan the same night the comments were made. Mr Buchanan resigned promptly from his position as Chairman of the Human Rights Commission on the same night and issued a public apology. The PNP Women’s Movement also publicly condemned Mr Buchanan’s statements, reaffirming the PNP’s unwavering commitment to respect for women and gender equity. We, therefore, find this request by the PSOJ for an apology from Mr Golding to be misconceived,” the statement read.

It continued, “While we appreciate the PSOJ’s concerns about civility and decorum in public discourse, we also expect that such calls for accountability be applied uniformly across all political parties and their members. It is important to Jamaica that the PSOJ remains impartial and consistent in holding all leaders and organisations accountable for their actions and statements. We, therefore, find this request by the PSOJ also to be hypocritical, as this organisation has never made such a request of Prime Minister Andrew Holness and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), despite the many utterances and remarks made by Members of Parliament and his Party.”

Moreover, the PNP charged that at no time has the PSOJ asked Prime Minister Andrew Holness to apologise for the frequent outbursts and insults made by MP Everald Warmington to women, other parliamentarians and the media.

The Opposition party also chided Holness’ action of inviting Osbourne “Peanut Dread” Ellis to Parliament during the budget debate, claiming he is known for demeaning comments toward women.

“Peanut Dread can be regarded as one of the worst exponents of crass and violent statements about women,” the release said, adding that the behaviour of MP George Wright, who was caught on video using a stool to beat a woman and Councillor David Brown, who has been the subject of multiple charges of physically abusing women and the elderly, have escaped the reprimand of the PSOJ, and that the PSOJ has remained silent on the daily disrespectful utterances made by its own private sector member, Kevin O’Brien Chang.

In the meantime, the PNP said it has always stood for respect, dignity, and accountability, especially when it comes to issues concerning women’s rights.

“We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of decorum and conduct within our party and hold our members accountable for their actions.”