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LETTER OF THE DAY: When a young boy wrote to PM Michael Manley-And a footnote to Bruce Golding
published: Tuesday | September 18, 2007
The Editor, Sir:
As a young boy living in East Portland, about 1973, I addressed a letter to the Hon. Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica. I expressed the wish for the communities of Scott's Run, Belle Castle and Haining to have electricity given that the JPS power lines passed along the main road, some two miles outside the nearer district.
My request to have electricity in the areas was admittedly self-serving. Each Monday night, religiously, I would visit a home a mile away to watch the JBC TV vampire series Dark Shadows. Thus, on those nights, heart thumping, a 'fraid' boy walked the dark road, at a period when the fear was not of the living.
Some two months later I came home to a letter from Jamaica House, signed in the handwriting of Michael Manley, explaining briefly the Rural Electrification Programme and that he had passed on my letter to that office for immediate attention. About two weeks after, surveys were done and within two months we had electricity. I loved Michael Manley from that day henceforth.
Prime Minister Golding, in his victory speech, spoke of things that can be done that need no budgetary allocation, things that can make a difference in the lives of ordinary Jamaicans. One way to do these little but meaningful things, Sir, is to open a desk at Jamaica House where ordinary people can write in their requests/suggestions, so issues that affect daily lives can come to you, unencumbered by bureaucrats, for your attention.
I am, etc.,
CLAUDE WILSON jaclaudew@yahoo.com
published: Tuesday | September 18, 2007
The Editor, Sir:
As a young boy living in East Portland, about 1973, I addressed a letter to the Hon. Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica. I expressed the wish for the communities of Scott's Run, Belle Castle and Haining to have electricity given that the JPS power lines passed along the main road, some two miles outside the nearer district.
My request to have electricity in the areas was admittedly self-serving. Each Monday night, religiously, I would visit a home a mile away to watch the JBC TV vampire series Dark Shadows. Thus, on those nights, heart thumping, a 'fraid' boy walked the dark road, at a period when the fear was not of the living.
Some two months later I came home to a letter from Jamaica House, signed in the handwriting of Michael Manley, explaining briefly the Rural Electrification Programme and that he had passed on my letter to that office for immediate attention. About two weeks after, surveys were done and within two months we had electricity. I loved Michael Manley from that day henceforth.
Prime Minister Golding, in his victory speech, spoke of things that can be done that need no budgetary allocation, things that can make a difference in the lives of ordinary Jamaicans. One way to do these little but meaningful things, Sir, is to open a desk at Jamaica House where ordinary people can write in their requests/suggestions, so issues that affect daily lives can come to you, unencumbered by bureaucrats, for your attention.
I am, etc.,
CLAUDE WILSON jaclaudew@yahoo.com