The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has complained for a second time about its former president and Prime Minister P J Patterson being slighted by the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) on social media.

In a press statement Sunday, the PNP called on the Government, and specifically Senator Dana Morris Dixon, the information and digital transformation minister, to “urgently address the need for a comprehensive social media policy for government officials”.

“This repeated call, which has gone unanswered, is essential to ensure proper management and oversight of government social media pages and to maintain the integrity of official communications,” the statement said.

It said the current call follows Saturday night’s incident involving a photograph posted on the
Instagram page of Sports Minister Olivia Grange, in which the caption identified the current Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Minister Grange but failed to recognise Patterson, the longest-serving prime minister of Jamaica.

The statement drew attention to a previous incident in which junior foreign minister Alando Terrelonge’s social media page posted a photograph “defacing the images of former prime ministers PJ Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller, using emojis while leaving the images of JLP prime ministers untouched”.

“Mr Terrelonge attributed this action to a staffer, yet the photograph remained on the page for several hours, causing significant public distress,” the PNP said. “In light of these events, the PNP is reiterating its call for a robust social media policy.”

This policy should, among other things, streamline official government sources, clearly differentiating between personal and official social media pages of government officials to avoid confusion.

“The public should be informed if a page is personal/partisan and not to be treated as an official government communication channel. Management of personal pages should not be funded by public resources,” the press statement said.

“…The PNP believes that a well-defined social media policy is crucial for maintaining the dignity of our public figures and the trust of the Jamaican people in their Government. We urge the Hon Sen Morris Dixon to act swiftly in addressing this matter and to provide clear guidelines to prevent further instances of disrespect and miscommunication.”