Prime minister Bruce Golding, leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), has blasted the Opposition for what he says is its failure to offer any solutions to the problems now facing the country.

Speaking at a JLP Area Council One meeting, held at Kingston High School, downtown Kingston, on Sunday, Golding said that since the People's National Party (PNP) slipped into Opposition 17 months ago, it has resorted to blaming the JLP government for the current socio-economic climate, while at the same time "they haven't come forward with one original, creative idea".

"... We are under attack by a group of people who don't have any work to do," Golding said. "They come to Parliament every Tuesday, they ask some questions, sometimes some questions that are the ultimate of absurdity."

Difficulty learning

The JLP leader, who promised he would not remain silent whenever the Opposition made unfounded assertions, said there was one PNP member of parlia-ment who seemed to have a difficulty learning.

"If he was one of mine, I would put a dunce cap on him and send him back to school," Golding said.

Pointing to the global economic crunch, which has put economies across the globe in a tailspin, Golding said the PNP should resist the temptation to be frivolous.

However, the PNP has fired back at Golding with Peter Bunting, the party's general secretary, saying the prime minister was being dishonest in suggesting the PNP had not come forward with any original ideas.

No humility

Bunting said it was only last week that Golding wrote to Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, thanking her for a series of crime-fighting suggestions which Bunting said the party "quietly" made.

"One would have thought that any government that has had the kind of performance like the one he leads would have learnt a bit more humility," Bunting said.

He added: "I am deeply disturbed that, at a time that the country is facing severe crisis, the prime minister continues his divisive, arrogant and name-calling approach and this is not what the current situation calls for."

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com