The Opposition People’s National Party, PNP, has accused Finance Minister, Dr. Nigel Clarke, of seeking to use ‘reverse racism’ to malign its President, Mark Golding.
This after Tuesday’s comments by Dr. Clarke, where he referred to Mr. Golding as ‘Maasa Mark’.
More in this report from Nora Gaye Banton:
Nigel Clarke was bringing the budget debate to a close on Tuesday when these words words caused uproar in the House of Representatives.
The PNP took swift umbrage.
In a strident two page statement, the Opposition party pulled no punches.
It accused Nigel Clarke of an act of premeditated prejudice and racial discrimination.
The PNP says Dr. Clarke’s comments infer that Mark Golding is a racist oppressor.
It says Mark Golding’s political career shows him to be on the side of the descendants of enslaved Africans.
The PNP has also called on the Jamaica Labour Party to contend with what it says is the governing party’s history of actions against descendants of the enslaved.
The Opposition cites the persecution of Rastafarians and actions taken against Guyanese historian, political activist and academic, Walter Rodney in the 1960s, as evidence of the JLP’s bias towards black nationalists.
The Opposition is calling on Jamaicans to condemn what it describes as appalling behaviour by the country’s Finance Minister.
It says Dr. Clarke’s words have given the impression that it is acceptable to divide Jamaicans based on colour.
The PNP is calling on Dr. Clarke to withdraw the comments and apologise to Mr. Golding and the people of Jamaica.
Meanwhile, President of the People’s National Party Youth Organisation, PNPYO, Senator Gabriela Morris says the comments by the Finance Minister risk demeaning the business of the House of Representatives.
The Senator is calling on Dr. Clarke to withdraw the comments.
She says identity politics has no place in modern Jamaica.
Senator Gabriela Morris, President of the PNP-YO.
She was speaking to our news centre on Wednesday.
