Vaz seeks vindication in lawsuit against Campbell

Member of Parliament Daryl Vaz says his defamation lawsuit filed against Dr Dayton Campbell is expected to correct a 40-year-old wrong that has “plagued” him since he first entered representational politics in 1986.

Vaz, who represents the Portland Western constituency in the House of Representatives for the governing Jamaica Labour Party, said operatives of the People’s National Party (PNP) have, since that time, orchestrated and sustained a smear campaign against him.

Vaz, through his attorney-at-law Catherine Minto, filed the lawsuit in the Civil Division of the Supreme Court on Friday over “defamatory” comments made by Campbell, the PNP’s general secretary, while at the party’s Clarendon North Western annual conference in July.

He suggested that Campbell’s comments form part of that smear campaign.

“The said words are actionable per se under the laws of Jamaica,” Vaz, the minister of science, energy, telecommunications and transport, said in the nine-page claim filed by his attorney.

He said that Campbell’s references were motivated by malice and were calculated to disparage him in his political, professional, social and personal life.

“The deliberate and intended effect of the defendant’s words was to lower the claimant in the estimation of right-thinking members of society, to humiliate the claimant and expose him to ridicule, contempt and mockery while asserting that the defendant ‘no ‘fraid a nobody’,” the claim said.

Vaz is seeking damages for defamation; exemplary and aggravated damages; interest; an injunction barring Campbell from repeating the allegations; costs and “such further and/or other relief” the court deems just.

Campbell did not respond to The Gleaner’s request for comment on the matter.

He is expected to be served in September when the court, which is on break, is set to resume full operations.

On Friday, Vaz told The Gleaner that the justice system will “vindicate” him through the evidence that he will introduce in court.

“This lawsuit, which I’m confident will succeed in the courts, comes in my last few years in representational politics. I will leave politics one day, and when I leave, I will do so with this wrong corrected, and where better to seek justice than the courts?

“Mr Dayton Campbell has had to take legal action in recent times to protect his reputation, so I’m sure he can appreciate and respect my desire to do the same,” he said.

“This action is to bring back dignity to political rivalry as no lesser person than former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has publicly and rightly called for,” he added.

PATTERSON’S APPEAL

On Thursday, Patterson urged public officials to dial back the intense political rhetoric and character assassinations in the public space, slamming some utterances as “disgraceful”.

Patterson said utterances from some in the political sphere and positions of authority belittle the nation and undermine respect for all.

He said that public respect is rapidly descending to an all-time low.

“The language used routinely is distasteful, disgraceful, and comments are derogatory. The tone of their delivery is devoid of respect,” he said, without identifying any specific incident.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, too, on Thursday said that there has been a debasing of national discourse “to the point where you could say it is uncivil”.

“Leaders have a duty to ensure that they elevate the debate, regardless of whatever political opportunism that they may see. There is still that duty and obligation to ensure that the national debate is elevated,” he said.