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Dabdoub firm on 'no apology' stance
BY PAUL HENRY Crime/Court Desk co-ordinator henryp@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, October 20, 2011
THE stand-off between Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair and People's National Party (PNP) candidate Abe Dabdoub over his characterisation of prime minister-in-waiting Andrew Holness as a loader man, continues.
In his three-page letter to Blair on Tuesday, Dabdoub said that he would not apologise because the only definition he knows for loader man is a "respectable man who is hired to put baggage on a bus", which he said is not an offensive characterisation.
DABDOUB... a loader man is a respectable man who is hired to put baggage on a bus
He said that he was not aware that loader man was a term used to describe "one who pulls people from vehicles and one who harasses and victimises individuals while extorting money from the driver", quoting one of the definition that Blair gave last week during a radio interview.
In light of this, Dabdoub, the PNP's candidate for North East St Catherine, said that he was confident that he has Simpson Miller's support on the issue.
"I assure you that the leader of the Opposition will not deny me my constitutional right to freedom of speech. I am also quite confident that she does not share the new and imaginative urban meanings which you have ascribed to the term loader man," Dabdoub said in his letter to Blair.
Dabdoub was responding to a letter sent last week Friday by Blair to Simpson Miller asking her intervention on the issue.
Blair's letter to Simpson Miller was as a result of Dabdoub's refusal to apologise for the loader man statement that was made two Sunday's ago during a political meeting on the outskirts of Linstead, St Catherine. The statement was made on the heels of Holness being endorsed to take over leadership of the governing Jamaica Labour Party.
"The driver run lef' the bus while it still running, and the 'ducta (conductor) say him nuh want the work. So them tek up the loader man put in the driver's seat and we don't know if him have licence. Understand that it is the same old bus, the same old passengers, and the same old loader man who will be driving now," Dabdoub said then.
In his letter Tuesday, Dabdoub reiterated that his loader man comment was in reference to the "driva" (driver) analogy used by prime minister Bruce Golding.
Dabdoub, who is an attorney-at-law by profession, said in his letter to Blair that he would not be addressing the issue further.
"Ombudsman, my mind is clear and my conscience clean as to what I said and what I meant. As such, I will not be coerced into making an unwarranted apology," said Dabdoub.
"With respect, I do not propose to address this issue any further as my position has been carefully set out and irreversible," Dabdoub added.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1bOjYMV4X
BY PAUL HENRY Crime/Court Desk co-ordinator henryp@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, October 20, 2011
THE stand-off between Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair and People's National Party (PNP) candidate Abe Dabdoub over his characterisation of prime minister-in-waiting Andrew Holness as a loader man, continues.
In his three-page letter to Blair on Tuesday, Dabdoub said that he would not apologise because the only definition he knows for loader man is a "respectable man who is hired to put baggage on a bus", which he said is not an offensive characterisation.
DABDOUB... a loader man is a respectable man who is hired to put baggage on a bus
He said that he was not aware that loader man was a term used to describe "one who pulls people from vehicles and one who harasses and victimises individuals while extorting money from the driver", quoting one of the definition that Blair gave last week during a radio interview.
In light of this, Dabdoub, the PNP's candidate for North East St Catherine, said that he was confident that he has Simpson Miller's support on the issue.
"I assure you that the leader of the Opposition will not deny me my constitutional right to freedom of speech. I am also quite confident that she does not share the new and imaginative urban meanings which you have ascribed to the term loader man," Dabdoub said in his letter to Blair.
Dabdoub was responding to a letter sent last week Friday by Blair to Simpson Miller asking her intervention on the issue.
Blair's letter to Simpson Miller was as a result of Dabdoub's refusal to apologise for the loader man statement that was made two Sunday's ago during a political meeting on the outskirts of Linstead, St Catherine. The statement was made on the heels of Holness being endorsed to take over leadership of the governing Jamaica Labour Party.
"The driver run lef' the bus while it still running, and the 'ducta (conductor) say him nuh want the work. So them tek up the loader man put in the driver's seat and we don't know if him have licence. Understand that it is the same old bus, the same old passengers, and the same old loader man who will be driving now," Dabdoub said then.
In his letter Tuesday, Dabdoub reiterated that his loader man comment was in reference to the "driva" (driver) analogy used by prime minister Bruce Golding.
Dabdoub, who is an attorney-at-law by profession, said in his letter to Blair that he would not be addressing the issue further.
"Ombudsman, my mind is clear and my conscience clean as to what I said and what I meant. As such, I will not be coerced into making an unwarranted apology," said Dabdoub.
"With respect, I do not propose to address this issue any further as my position has been carefully set out and irreversible," Dabdoub added.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1bOjYMV4X