Seaga: PNP looking for a fight, but I won’t entertain them

Tension is brewing between the People’s National Party (PNP) and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) after the opposition party on Wednesday accused the president of the business lobby, Metry Seaga, of exercising political bias towards the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

In a party statement, PNP Chairman Dr Angela Brown Burke slammed the PSOJ head after he called for Golding to apologise to Jamaican women following comments made by attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan.

Buchanan, at the time, was the chairman of the PNP’s Human Rights Commission. He has since resigned from the post and has issued a public apology to Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn.

“While we appreciate and share the PSOJ’s concern about maintaining respect and civility within our society, we disagree with your call for a personal apology from the leader and are disheartened by the glaring bias clearly evident in your statement,” Brown Burke said.

She added that the PNP took “immediate and decisive” action upon learning about Buchanan’s “inappropriate” comments.

Brown Burke said that the opposition leader spoke to Buchanan the same night he made the comments and that this led to his resignation.

She noted, too, that the PNP Women’s Movement also publicly condemned 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 party chairman said, adding that the party is expecting “that such calls for accountability be applied uniformly across all political parties and their members”.

She argued that it is important to the country that the PSOJ remain 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 despite the many utterances and remarks made by members of parliament and his party,” she said, pointing to government legislator Everald Warmington, who has been heavily criticised for comments made in the past.

Brown Burke also accused the PSOJ of remaining silent on the “daily disrespectful utterances” made by a purported member of the organisation.

The PSOJ head has, however, rejected the PNP assertions, insisting that he has been fair across the board.

Seaga said that the PNP is “looking for a fight” that he would not entertain.

“I would never have thought that the request for a simple apology would illicit such a response. It is quite surprising to me. However, I can assure you that my track record speaks for itself.

“I am not in any way, shape, or form biased. I call it as I see it every time and will continue to so do,” Seaga told The Gleaner on Wednesday.

He said that the PNP’s statement is “a clear deflection” from the issue at hand.

“Whilst they say with one mouth that they uphold the principles of good governance and decency, what would it take for the leader to apologise for what has been said by a member of his team?” he said.

He said that it has not been confirmed whether the businessman the PNP has accused of disrespectful utterances is a member of the organisation.

“Mr Golding is looking for a fight. He won’t find any here,” said Seaga.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com