THE EDITOR, Sir:

We have noticed that our Member of Parliament (MP) Raymond Pryce has made your paper on a number of occasions. On Wednesday, September 26, 2012, your reporter Edmond Campbell dedicated an article to highlighting a minor slip of the tongue as Mr Pryce led prayers at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting.

The following day, a cartoon in your paper parodied him in Sunday school. I take it that the rules of love and war apply to public figures more than anyone else.

However, having seen the replay of the entire sitting on PBCJ, it struck me that Mr Campbell was particularly petty. Thank the Lord for PBCJ or the public would not have noticed that Mr Pryce and others made substantial contributions at the PAC meeting about serious issues affecting our economy and society.

It causes me to question the real role of journalists who cover these all-important sittings. Is it to provide impartial coverage so that the public can better judge what our representatives are doing on our behalf? Or is it to be puerile and insensitive?

A few weeks prior, your paper published the attendance records at these sittings. While that is important, how about focusing less on the quantity of sittings and attendance and instead showcase the quality of contributions by members in attendance. You may find that such a qualitative approach improves the level of understanding by the public of what ought to be achieved by Parliament and its committees.

For the record, we in North Eastern St Elizabeth are of the opinion that for us Raymond Pryce is still right. His work with the neighbourhood watches and citizens' associations in our constituency is a case in point. It is a pleasure seeing him go from store to store in Santa Cruz interfacing with shoppers and business owners alike; or walking in his water boots inspecting the quality of the work being done on drains in the constituency.

COMMUNITY WALKS

Many evenings our children come home and speak of his visits to their classrooms; of course, you may or may not consider these attributes important, but we do.

We also respect the fact that we see him attending our churches and doing community walks while the nearest election is four years away.

Since he has become our MP, we are seeing agency representatives attending community meetings with him, North East St Elizabeth is once again on the map.

Mr Pryce is not perfect, but he has shown he is willing to work with us, and we are working with him. Please give our MP a break and allow him to grow in his job.

As someone who did not vote in the last election, based on what I have seen so far, I will be the first to vote for him when the next election is called.

KARLENE ANDERSON BROWN

andersonbrowkk@yahoo.com

Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth