THE EDITOR, Madam:
Attorney-at-law Dr Lloyd Barnett is correct to argue that Jamaica must critically examine inherited parliamentary traditions, including the mace and other Westminster rituals. Yet, the growing controversy surrounding the rejection of Jamaican Patwa (Jamiekan) in Parliament exposes a deeper contradiction within the Jamaican State itself.
The irony is profound. The same State that insists on rigid English linguistic conventions in Parliament has already acknowledged Jamaica’s multilingual reality within the third arm of government – the courts.