Warmington and hypocrisy

Delano Seiveright, Gleaner Writer

It's Tuesday, March 8 going past 7 p.m. The ballroom at a New Kingston hotel was filled to capacity as many Jamaican women from all walks of life came to celebrate International Women's Day. The minister responsible for women's affairs, Olivia Grange, along with United States ambassador to Jamaica, Pamela Bridgewater, People's National Party (PNP) Vice-president Angela Brown-Burke, government senators Kamina Johnson-Smith and Marlene Malahoo-Forte and many other officials were in attendance. Minister Grange launched the National Gender Policy and the UNIFEM-funded Way Out project at the event. It was, after all, the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day and the Government went out of its way to make it more than the proverbial hot air that many were accustomed to under the previous administration.

As the celebrations continued after 8 p.m., a number of us were alerted via BlackBerry Messenger of an abruptly ended interview with the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate for South West St Catherine, Everald Warmington. Mr Warmington, in one of his now too-frequent moments of exasperation, told CVM TV news anchor Kerlyn Brown, "Go to hell!" It was officially announced only hours before in Parliament by Speaker of the House, Delroy Chuck, that Mr Warmington had resigned as member of parliament for South West St Catherine over the same dual-citizenship issues affecting several MPs. As the BlackBerry chatter intensified, it was obvious that this was no one-night wonder.

TWO-FACEDNESS

After an analysis of the interview, it is clear that the use of the word "unethical" to describe Mr Warmington's positioning on the dual-citizenship matter incensed him. The use of the word is particularly annoying in light of the fact that there are two members on the Opposition benches who are in breach of the Constitution as it regards their dual-citizenship status. Yet, it is the very same Opposition that initiated action against members of government who were in breach. The in-your-face hypocrisy is appalling. Mr Warmington is universally known not to be a man given to even a moderately "OK" temperament. As such, the sharp questioning by the anchor led to the offensive remark. The situation could have been averted by shrewd manoeuvring on the part of the anchor, but it didn't. I doubt very much that Ms Brown, much less anyone else, expected that offensive outburst.

Either way, Mr Warmington was not only out of order but should have apologised forthwith, no matter how exasperated he was. As a public official, he should know that scrutiny, sometimes fair, sometimes not, by the media, is far more onerous than ordinary persons and rightly so. Further yet, while some of his contributions in Parliament are worthy of commendation, his frequent rants and gross disrespect of the House speaker and other members of the House need to be curtailed.

The timing of this particular outburst could not have been anymore ill-timed as we celebrated the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. As the outrage began to spread, the chairman of the JLP, on the afternoon of Thursday, March 10 following a meeting with Warmington, apologised to members of the media who were offended by Warmington's comment. At this point, too, it would have been appropriate for Warmington to have personally apologised for the remark.

WOMEN IN MEDIA

As the weekend progressed, a letter from a group calling itself Women in Media hit media email inboxes the afternoon of Sunday, March 13. The letter, ostensibly signed with the typed names of more than 60 women in media, along with the logos of the Media Association Jamaica Ltd (MAJ) and the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ), called on JLP leader, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, to "... not permit Mr Warmington to be nominated as candidate for the JLP in the by-election scheduled for April 4". The statement noted Mr Warmington's long history of offensive verbal assaults on the media, hence the request.

A look at the letter and the way in which it was delivered, indicated that the original intent may have been more to embarrass the JLP rather than address the real problem at hand. The letter, dated March 13, was sent to the media on the same date and, interestingly enough, the chairman of the JLP, Mike Henry, though formally copied, received it from me after it was sent to the news media. One would have thought that the organisation would have had the courtesy to give the leader and chairman of the JLP at least 24 hours to respond to their demand. Even more interesting is the fact that a number of the persons whose names were affixed as signatories to the statement were caught flat-footed at the time the statement was sent to the media. The letter also appears to have been rushed, as it clearly showed that it was still in draft stage.

HYPOCRISY

While Warmington's conduct is, at times, reprehensible and demanding of severe penalties, one would have thought that in this politically polarised environment, the intelligent authors of this letter would have, in the least, sought to balance the scales a bit. Senator K.D. Knight, like Warmington, has an equally long history of verbally abusive behaviour. Many of us are aware of the verbal assaults on Portia Simpson Miller during the PNP's internal presidential contests and the regular scolding of Senator Dorothy Lightbourne in the Senate and, more recently, at the commission of enquiry.

Alarmingly, despite a Monday, March 14 afternoon meeting at Jamaica House with lead members of Women in Media, including executives of the PAJ and MAJ and Ministers Daryl Vaz, Andrew Holness and Mike Henry, the group decided to further condemn the JLP, and even filed complaints to several international media bodies. This, after it was outlined to attendees the way forward and an assurance that the matter will be seriously, addressed by the JLP.

POLITICKING

The MAJ and PAJ, in a joint press release a day after the discussions at Jamaica House, said, in part, "The international media community was advised that the acts of blatant intimidation by the Jamaican politician has impacted the ability of the Jamaican media to pursue stories on the integrity of the former government member who was in breach of the Jamaican Constitution." The International Federation of Journalists, the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and the Association of Caribbean Media Workers had all been alerted!

Anyone with half a brain must now be fully cognisant of what is at play here. The JLP has again, for the umpteenth time, been distracted by issues that clearly have hidden political objectives meshed in. While I continue to have the highest of respect for the many of the members of Women in Media, the PAJ and the MAJ, I am equally disappointed of their leadership's less-than-fair position on this issue. The JLP has gone beyond being transparent, fair-minded and accessible in seeking to address Warmington's offensive conduct. I couldn't believe just how accommodating the party chairman, general secretary and other party officials have been. They are obviously genuine in their intent to remedy the situation.

It is apparent, though, that while we all share the need to bring an advanced sense of civility and good order to our society, the politicking of a FEW ensconced in civil society outfits would impede, rather than push forward, the process.

I suggest that the leadership of the JLP desist from allowing itself to be distracted, and instead, focus intensely on the real issues at hand. These include continuing to rehabilitate our country's battered economy, further reduce crime and violence, further develop our health and education sectors, transform our agriculture sector, press ahead with fundamental constitutional reform, boost tourism earnings, continue the anti-corruption drive, game change our energy sector and so on. Ultimately, you must ensure that life for all Jamaicans, over the coming years, will be better than it has been.

Delano Seiveright is president of Generation 2000 (G2K), the young-professional affiliate of the Jamaica Labour Party. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com