This is what JAMAICA love is.. recognising wrongs and restoring… CONGRATS MAYOR.
ARTICLE: Black, gold and…
Green missing from J’can flag backdrop at swearing-in ceremony; MoBay mayor apologises
BY MARK CUMMINGS Editor-at-Large Western Bureau [email protected]
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Chairman of the St James Parish Council Glendon Harris has apologised for a foul-up in the decoration of the historic Montego Bay Civic Centre for the recent swearing-in of newly elected councillors in which the colour green was left out of a backdrop designed to depict the Jamaican flag.
“I think somebody messed up and I want to apologise publicly,” said Harris, who was sworn in as mayor of Montego Bay during the ceremony.
“Someone was contracted to do the decoration, and the only time I knew that was when I was authorising the payment for it. So I have nothing to do with it (the decoration),” said Harris.
A close look at the backdrop revealed a huge piece of black cloth with a gold saltire, which divided it into four sections, similar to the Jamaican flag.
The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), as well as members of the public have been critical of the backdrop with some charging that the People’s National Party controlled Council was being petty and tribalistic because green is the colour of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Former mayor of Montego Bay Charles Sinclair believes that the omission of the green in the decoration was deliberate.
“What was confirmed to me was that the backdrop was to have been the Jamaican flag, but the decision was that the green was not to be in there… and seeing how some PNP activists operate, I believe it was deliberate,” Sinclair told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
Harris said however, that while he could not “speak to” whether the omission of the green from the backdrop was “deliberate”, care should have been taken to ensure that all the “Jamaican colours” were used.
“It was a civic function, and so if it’s the Jamaican colours that are being used, then it should be all the Jamaican colours,” he argued.
He pointed out that he was told by his technical staff that the persons contracted to do the job had said that “they ran short of material”.
He however promised that there would not be a recurrence.
“I have spoken to my technical staff and I will ensure that something like that will not happen again,” said the veteran PNP councillor.
Seventeen elected councillors (13 for the PNP and four for the JLP) were sworn in during the ceremony which saw rowdy PNP supporters at times booing the JLP councillors.
Meanwhile, JLP Deputy Leader Senator Christopher Tufton said care should be taken to avoid “our most popular national symbol” from being corrupted or used in a partisan political way.
“Our flag should always be a symbol of pride and national unity,” he argued.
“Whether in this case it was intended or unintended, the perception of our flag being corrupted and used in a partisan way seems to have been strong enough to cause discomfort, and this justifies a clarification on the issue and an apology to those who were offended,” said Tufton.
He said, in the future the Government must establish clear protocol guidelines for the use of our flag to avoid even the appearance of political partisanship and more generally the compromising of our most significant national symbol.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Black–gold-and—#ixzz1rjezJ7NK
Author Profile
- ... qualified & experienced in journalism, creative writing, editing, the arts, art critique, paralegal, photography, teaching, research, event planning, motivational speaking, workshops for children and adults, visual arts etc. Click here for contact form. ...or email me here
Latest entries
Raw and DirectFebruary 20, 2025First 10 ways and counting to fix Jamaica
AdvertorialFebruary 1, 2025Daily reads as @ 1st February 2025- Of Law and JusticeOctober 8, 2024How corruption in Jamaica’s legal system changed Anthea McGibbon
AdvertorialSeptember 1, 2024Daily reads on www.antheamcgibbon.com as @ 010924
No one believes you.
Too bad! You need to go and go NOW!
IMMATURITY, to say the least.
These are the people representing us, can you believe?
Clearly they think it is ALL about them, and they cared very little if it would offend us Jamaicans or not. They just didn’t care what we thought.
Let us decent Jamaicans send a strong signal they are there to do the people’s work
Don’t let this one go Jamaica, make sure he steps down