THE EDITOR, Sir:

As a Jamaican living overseas for over 45 years, I am totally incensed at the comments by Hugh Small published in The Sunday Gleaner of January 20, 2013, under the caption 'Doomsday ahead?'

As I see it, there will never be total satisfaction in Jamaica with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's leadership, especially from the old boys' club. In the world of hypocrisy, there are many Mr Smalls, and that goes even for ministers in the current People's National Party (PNP) administration, who would dare not speak their minds.

But I would like to remind them all that the people have spoken and that on December 2011, Mrs Simpson Miller got her own mandate. There must be some respect accorded the position of prime minister.

Whether Hugh Small is observed as a "former high-profile minister of the PNP", I care not. Mr Small is not one of the prophets of our time. Could Mr Small's comment be construed as sour grapes? Could it be termed 'gender bias syndrome', or just blatantly crass?

Whatever the issue is, I find the total article mean-spirited. Mr Small's description of the "administration as intellectually incapacitated" borders on the abominable.

I must say once again, as I have said in a recent letter to the editor: "Reaching an IMF (International Monetary Fund) agreement is not, and will not be, a panacea for our financial and economic woes." Yet, we can yell and scream as much as possible, I do not have to prophesy to Mr Small or former PNP State Minister Errol Ennis (quoted in the said article) that even an IMF deal will not help with long-awaited massive road repairs between May Pen and Summerfield in Clarendon, or the poor water resources in small districts along stretches of highway in the same region.

In Jamaica, it always seems to come down to anti-parties, regardless of whether it be a Jamaica Labour Party or PNP administration, which only serves to benefit a small sector of Jamaicans, as on a whole the majority at any given time are the poor.

Therefore, based on all of these circumstances, I cannot understand Mr Small's vengeful language, such as "... not themselves intellectual powerhouses who can think abstractly ...". Mr Small has appointed himself social and financial psychologist for the Simpson Miller Government, and it is in this capacity that many of us could be misled.

It is shameful that men of Mr Small's stature get the opportunity to spew this type of public discourse. I am still struggling to comprehend how Mr Small's invectives benefit Jamaicans at home and abroad.

DUDLEY MORGAN

yeldudem@gmail.com

Calgary, Canada