Dayton Didn’t Do It
What is going on down in Orange land?
Once and for all this petty tribalism inside of the People’s National Party needs to be put to a permanent rest.
The PNP has enough problems without some young pups and whelps making it worse with their ill timed infighting. The PNP in Opposition has a nation in turmoil to rescue from the grips of a heartless regime that seems about to take the country under forever and a day, yet they squander opportunity after opportunity to figure prominently, while they rumble on their own doorstep, day in, day out..
While they should be finding answers to mount a serious opposition to the issues being treated by government officials as if they are non issues, they spend their time in a constant slugfest with each other. This is very unappealing to potential voters and the current crop of young voters fresh out of high school, waiting with something akin to desperation to see who will save them from the horror that has come upon them..
I was so flabbergasted when I heard this alleged charge by Miss Hanna, that the good doctor had uttered vulgarities about another comrade’s mother, that I went into high gear to find out the truth of what really transpired at that meeting.
Following is the account and explanation given to me by a close bystander and witness to the whole scenario as it unfolded, and one who is reportedly credible and respected in party circles….
The source claims…”“Lisa Hanna, representative for SE St Ann, on a whole has not participated in the region for the entire political year. The regional secretary Pauline Foster deliberately sabotaged the regional meetings by not notifying persons of the meetings and removing persons from the RMC without any consultation with anyone.
“Dayton wrote to Julian about the issue and nothing was done. It reached to a point where there were not enough persons to even attend the REC. Pauline Foster then wrote to the General Secretary and Dayton was told that the party was going to assign two persons to oversee the region, so Dayton resigned. He resigned over 4 months ago, yet no one was appointed to oversee the region …
“On Sunday when we got to the REC there were several coaster buses with comrades from SE St Ann and South Trelawny.
“It is customary that when the Regional Secretary gives the regional report for the political year that the attendance record is a part of it. A comrade from North Trelawny pointed out that it was absent, to which Foster responded that it wasn’t usually a part of the report. When she was called out in the blatant lie, she said some things were absent because she had to do the report alone.
“Dayton then spoke and said SE St Ann and South Trelawny had boycotted the Region for a year and Foster had left out the report deliberately because it would reflect that.
“Comrade Ian Bell said he was absent for a year because he did back surgery. Lisa got up and said she had been absent for reasons she could explain, but she didn’t bother to explain… but just cried out that when the wicked come up against her they will stumble and fall.
Comrade Dayton then got up to responded and Bell said ” boy sit down and shut up” Dayton had the microphone so he told Bell that he should shut up. Dayton said, ‘I can always speak freely because Lisa has nothing to blackmail me with, unlike you Bell.’
“Comrade Skeffery took the microphone and restored order to the meeting.
“There was no profanity from neither Bell nor Dayton. None at all… so I was surprised to hear that Bell was saying Dayton ‘tell him bout him mother’.
“It didn’t happen”
Incidentally this account was almost identical to ones given by two other party sources reportedly on hand, who have not been known to take sides in party squabbles.
A check with Dr Dayton Campbell himself confirmed this account.
He said…”that is not how I speak.”
“Believe me if they had a tape it would have been released long ago. I told him (Bell) to shut his mouth and that he had been blackmailed, thus the reason he couldn’t speak. I said nothing about his mother.
“This followed the Regional Secretary leaving out the attendance record, which many comrades had an issue with. I said it was deliberately left out because it would prove that SE St. Ann and MP Hanna did not attend one meeting other than the one we voted at when I was region chairman.
“I left the meeting after that. They were still inside.”
When asked about the possibility of an existing tape of such a conversation, Region 1 PNP YO Chairman Sanaya Brown went on record saying, “It was a very heated exchange between Dayton and Bell. Dayton had the microphone and shouted back shut up to Bell. He also said that Bell was being blackmail by Lisa. There were no profanities from either of them
If they have this tape then they can release it because it won’t have Dayton Campbell telling Bell about his mother. What it will show is Comrades Skeffery and Jimmy Walsh asking Dayton to give them the microphone.”
Hopefully, if this is all true, and somehow I believe it is, Mr. Bell and Miss Hanna will see fit to make good where Dr Campbell is concerned and seek to mend fences, not just for the good of the party, but because it is the right thing to do.
The PNP has a lot to recover from, if they are to meaningfully contest any kind of elections at this time or anywhere in the future
This kind of slashing and constant bashing of their peers is sure to retard the healing process and this does not augur well for the future of the ailing party.
By Ava Ramdeen – a former staff writer and subeditor of The Daily Gleaner ,The Jamaica Daily News, and Caribbean Life News in New York, as well as Managing Editor of the Caribbean Media Network 1995. Email feedback to [email protected] and kandiearth@hotmail
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