Be careful, Daryl

I would like to congratulate Daryl Vaz on his marvellous win in west Portland. I went along with Northwest St Ann member of parliament Othniel Lawrence to West Portland and got first-hand knowledge of Vaz's positive exploits in the constituency.

My only wish for Vaz is that he try to be less explosive. I think the People's National Party is watching him closer than any other politician from the Jamaica Labour Party.

I have been actively involved in politics for nearly 40 years, so I know I am capable to give a colleague advice.

- Carlton Daye

ruggler @yahoo.com

Distorting Marley's message

Ziggy Marley stated that the marketing of Marley lager was a family decision.

Respecting that and growing up on Marley's music and message, I think that we fans have watched Bob's image move into the world markets with great admiration.

Some things have been tongue in cheek because we sometimes think that Bob Marley belongs to us, fans, when, in fact, he left and created a family business that is greater today than ever before.

I think that we should embrace these opportunities to teach others about Bob's work, but we should also be vigilant and understand that others who don't know might work to reduce the message and significance by just being greedy.

- Mark Moses Alvarado

alvarado.mark@juno.com

Important tasks

Congratulations are in order for Daryl Vaz for winning the by- elections and Kenneth Rowe for running such a clean race.

Now all that is left for them to do is to serve the people in the manner they promised before the votes were counted.

I did not pay much attention to the requisite promises made by each man, but I am sure that somewhere in there promises of better roads, schools and safety were thrown around. In the end, only time will tell if this was all worth it.

I am happy that no one, to my knowledge, was killed. This was no small feat, considering the history of our elections. Could this be an example of the way to run elections in the future?

I hope that the party heads took notice of the camaraderie displayed by the people. These are the same people recently beset by the unspeakable tragedies of the truck crash and washed-out roads, which led to many deaths.

They were not thinking of their role in the possible referendum on the Jamaica Labour Party or a resuscitation of the People's National Party. They just wanted the government to do what they promised to do for them - getting the roads fixed, lights on, schools funded and the children kept safe.

I hope the government now feel fully empowered to take on the task of making Jamaica a better place.

- Seymour Taylor

staylor@sandc.com