JLP’s Central Executive to refer Tomlinson to political ombudsman over ‘Hitler’ comment

The second highest decision-making body of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), the Central Executive, yesterday unanimously supported a motion to refer People’s National Party Youth Organisation (PNPYO) President Krystal Tomlinson to the political ombudsman over her recent public utterances, which sought to compare Prime Minister Andrew Holness to Adolf Hitler.

Tomlinson apologised a day later, but is still haunted by the comment, which she said was taken out of context.

There were additional calls from the Central Executive for Dr Peter Phillips, leader of the Opposition, to disassociate himself from Tomlinson’s comments, “especially considering Ms Tomlinson works in his office as leader of his public relations team”.

The powerful Central Executive meeting was held at the Portmore Heart Academy, where a number of issues were dealt with, including a lengthy discussion around improving the standards of governance and the rooting out of corruption.

The Holness administration has had to be dealing with several cases of perceived corruption, highlighted by the Petrojam scandal in which Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis reported that there were “explicit acts of nepotism” at the state-owned oil refinery. Ruel Reid, former education minister who has been sacked by Holness, is also being investigated by various state agencies including the police.

The Central Executive said that it has recommitted itself to supporting the Government in all its efforts to end the pervasive national problem of corruption, a statement from the JLP said.