PETER GORDON, in his letter published in The Gleaner of Friday, September 4, has found it incredible that South East St Ann Member of Parliament, Lisa Hanna, could have advised the People's National Party Region One constituents that the fallout in the bauxite industry and the attendant loss of jobs, economic and social hardships being experienced, were the doings of the Jamaica Labour Party government.

A trained economist is not needed to walk us through the ramifications of the effects of the global economic downturn. Nor is it that Lisa Hanna does not understand its impact on our economy. Rather, it seems to be another manifestation of the contempt that middle-class leadership holds for the poorly-educated and vulnerable.

Ms Hanna is not only a former Miss World beauty queen, but also a university graduate with a master's degree in a discipline called 'communications'. It is, therefore,unfortunate that she had, apparently, perceived her audience as being so gullible and vulnerable that she could have made such a statement, obviously, without any regard for its veracity.

Dangerous political culture

That statement is not only false, but it is also divisive with the potential for increasing unnecessary tension and hatred. Lisa Hanna is not the only perpetrator of this cheap and dangerous political culture - preying on the innocents. It can and must be stopped.

The Office of the Political Ombudsman has maintained a deaf ear. That office has outlived its usefulness, if it ever had any. It is time for it to be scrapped and the purposeful Electoral Commission be expanded and empowered to deal with inter-party conflicts/controversies, including statements made by politicians without regard for veracity. Fines must be meted out with published apologies to the aggrieved individual, party, constituency and the nation at large.

I am, etc.,

LIONEL RUSSELL

Ensom City

St Catherine