'Jamaica first', says Patterson

PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson has told his Eastern Westmoreland constituents that despite their loyalty to him for many years, he would never place them above the interest of the country.

Mr. Patterson, who is also president of the governing People's National Party (PNP), was speaking during the commissioning of the upgraded Bluefields/White-house water supply system at the Culloden Training Centre in Westmoreland on Friday.

His comments, an obvious swipe at Opposition Leader and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Edward Seaga, came at the end of a week which saw the country split along political lines over the flare-up of violence in West Kingston, which left 25 persons dead.

Mr. Seaga said on a radio call-in programme last week that he would not put the interest of the country above his West Kingston constituency.

Mr. Patterson told his constituents that while he was proud to be their representative, they should neither expect him to concentrate all the benefits in that constituency, nor take risks at the expense and detriment of the rest of the country.

"In recent times I have seen a political style where persons put constituency first. I put Jamaica first," the Prime Minister said.

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