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Charges of 'murder', 'hypocrisy' at not so peaceful 'peace meeting'VAUGHN DAVIS, Observer staff reporter
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Rosemarie Shaw (left), PNP candidate for West St Thomas signs the Agreement and Declaration on Political Conduct, while James Robertson (centre) candidate and sitting Member of Parliament for West St Thomas looks on. Also sharing the moment is Supt Marlon Nesbeth (right) of the St Thomas Police Division. (Photo: Llewellyn Wynter)
A peace meeting between rival People's National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidates for St Thomas turned ugly Tuesday, with one candidate suggesting that three of her supporters were murdered and hurling charges of "hypocrisy".
"I am not ascribing any motives but I am saying I have three party workers to bury right now," declared Rosemarie Shaw, the former JLP mayor of Morant Bay, now turned PNP candidate for West St Thomas.
"We have to be true to ourselves. All this hypocrisy. I am not a hypocrite and Jamaica knows that," Shaw wryly told the meeting organised by the St Thomas Crime Prevention Committee to sign the Agreement and Declaration on Political Conduct, at the church hall of the Morant Bay Anglican Church in the St Thomas capital.
All four PNP and JLP candidates seeking seats in the eastern parish were present at the meeting - which started out normally with the signing of the document by sitting PNP member of parliament for East St Thomas, Dr Fenton Ferguson, and his JLP opponent, Dr Omer Thomas.
The political temperature suddenly rose when it was time for Shaw and her JLP counterpart for West St Thomas and incumbent member of parliament, James Robertson, to sign.
In a show of goodwill, Robertson offered Shaw his pen to sign the document, to which the PNP candidate responded by turning away and accepting another pen.
Incensed by Shaw's action, a supporter of Robertson demanded that she shake Robertson's hand to make amends. At this request, Robertson rose to his feet and stretched out his hand to Shaw.
Ignoring Robertson, she rose to her feet, walked behind the chairs in front of him and went to the podium, from where she declared: "We have to be true to ourselves. All this hypocrisy. I am not a hypocrite and Jamaica knows that. I am willing and I am committed to the peace and safety of St Thomas as a whole. This is the parish of my birth, I have a vested interest in the peace of St Thomas.
"In return, I am also going to appeal to my opponent. We have never had a verbal clash, I am going to appeal to him to let us move forward for the peace and safety of the people of our parish," she said.
Shaw then approached Robertson and shook his hand, to delightful applause from PNP supporters in the audience.
But the meeting immediately after descended into a shouting match between the supporters of the two parties, with the JLP faction shouting "shower" and their PNP counterparts shouting "power", among other political slogans of their respective parties.
The rivalry continued during the singing of the National Anthem to close the meeting. There were shouts of "power" and "shower" just before and throughout the second verse of the anthem.
Robertson told the Observer afterwards that he harboured no ill feelings towards Shaw and knew of no reason for any antagonism.
"I have no animosity towards (her). You saw no animosity on my part, you saw some animosity on somebody else's part. Politics brings out the good in some and the worst in some," he commented.
"You would have to ask her what she is speaking of. I know my track record in life shows no case of hypocrisy, I am not a hypocrite. Hopefully, the election will be over before the end of July and we will go on to build our parish. The issues of the people must come first, not personalities or feelings," Robertson added.
Shaw, for her part, said that her attitude was rooted in occurrences in the Western St Thomas constituency during the last general elections when she unsuccessfully represented the JLP in the 2002 general elections for the East St Thomas seat.
"You will recall that this same document was signed in 2002 in Western St Thomas, and Western St Thomas was one of the constituencies that the EOJ (Electoral Office of Jamaica) had to ban all public gatherings, public meetings and motorcades because of the mayhem and wanton murder that took place.
"At that time, I campaigned in eastern St Thomas and we had our challenges but there was no such mayhem (or) murder taking place as in Western St Thomas. That speaks volumes. I am not ascribing any motives but I am saying I have three party workers to bury right now," she said.
Asked to comment on her refusal to accept Robertson's pen she said: "That's trivial. It's just another part of the hypocrisy."
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Rosemarie Shaw (left), PNP candidate for West St Thomas signs the Agreement and Declaration on Political Conduct, while James Robertson (centre) candidate and sitting Member of Parliament for West St Thomas looks on. Also sharing the moment is Supt Marlon Nesbeth (right) of the St Thomas Police Division. (Photo: Llewellyn Wynter)A peace meeting between rival People's National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidates for St Thomas turned ugly Tuesday, with one candidate suggesting that three of her supporters were murdered and hurling charges of "hypocrisy".
"I am not ascribing any motives but I am saying I have three party workers to bury right now," declared Rosemarie Shaw, the former JLP mayor of Morant Bay, now turned PNP candidate for West St Thomas.
"We have to be true to ourselves. All this hypocrisy. I am not a hypocrite and Jamaica knows that," Shaw wryly told the meeting organised by the St Thomas Crime Prevention Committee to sign the Agreement and Declaration on Political Conduct, at the church hall of the Morant Bay Anglican Church in the St Thomas capital.
All four PNP and JLP candidates seeking seats in the eastern parish were present at the meeting - which started out normally with the signing of the document by sitting PNP member of parliament for East St Thomas, Dr Fenton Ferguson, and his JLP opponent, Dr Omer Thomas.
The political temperature suddenly rose when it was time for Shaw and her JLP counterpart for West St Thomas and incumbent member of parliament, James Robertson, to sign.
In a show of goodwill, Robertson offered Shaw his pen to sign the document, to which the PNP candidate responded by turning away and accepting another pen.
Incensed by Shaw's action, a supporter of Robertson demanded that she shake Robertson's hand to make amends. At this request, Robertson rose to his feet and stretched out his hand to Shaw.
Ignoring Robertson, she rose to her feet, walked behind the chairs in front of him and went to the podium, from where she declared: "We have to be true to ourselves. All this hypocrisy. I am not a hypocrite and Jamaica knows that. I am willing and I am committed to the peace and safety of St Thomas as a whole. This is the parish of my birth, I have a vested interest in the peace of St Thomas.
"In return, I am also going to appeal to my opponent. We have never had a verbal clash, I am going to appeal to him to let us move forward for the peace and safety of the people of our parish," she said.
Shaw then approached Robertson and shook his hand, to delightful applause from PNP supporters in the audience.
But the meeting immediately after descended into a shouting match between the supporters of the two parties, with the JLP faction shouting "shower" and their PNP counterparts shouting "power", among other political slogans of their respective parties.
The rivalry continued during the singing of the National Anthem to close the meeting. There were shouts of "power" and "shower" just before and throughout the second verse of the anthem.
Robertson told the Observer afterwards that he harboured no ill feelings towards Shaw and knew of no reason for any antagonism.
"I have no animosity towards (her). You saw no animosity on my part, you saw some animosity on somebody else's part. Politics brings out the good in some and the worst in some," he commented.
"You would have to ask her what she is speaking of. I know my track record in life shows no case of hypocrisy, I am not a hypocrite. Hopefully, the election will be over before the end of July and we will go on to build our parish. The issues of the people must come first, not personalities or feelings," Robertson added.
Shaw, for her part, said that her attitude was rooted in occurrences in the Western St Thomas constituency during the last general elections when she unsuccessfully represented the JLP in the 2002 general elections for the East St Thomas seat.
"You will recall that this same document was signed in 2002 in Western St Thomas, and Western St Thomas was one of the constituencies that the EOJ (Electoral Office of Jamaica) had to ban all public gatherings, public meetings and motorcades because of the mayhem and wanton murder that took place.
"At that time, I campaigned in eastern St Thomas and we had our challenges but there was no such mayhem (or) murder taking place as in Western St Thomas. That speaks volumes. I am not ascribing any motives but I am saying I have three party workers to bury right now," she said.
Asked to comment on her refusal to accept Robertson's pen she said: "That's trivial. It's just another part of the hypocrisy."
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