Who died and made Everald Warmington god? This man is a legend in his own mind and he wants the world to know it every chance he gets. Warmington, the member of parliament for South West St Catherine, has always been known to be rude. He has built a reputation on it. However, what he did this week smacks not only of rudeness but of an over-inflated ego running wild.

Warmington resigned from his position of MP and junior minister in the Ministry of Water and Housing because he is the latest in a long line of ministers who have sworn allegiance to this country but who have one foot in Uncle Sam or some other non-Commonwealth foreign land. Of course, this is big news because at the rate things are going, it would be easier to count the number of MPs who don't have a US green card or citizenship status in a South American country.

testy

For reasons beyond me, Warmington agrees to be interviewed about his resignation by reporters from both major television stations TVJ and CVM. During both interviews, when asked whether what he did was unethical, the former South West St Catherine member of parliament became testy and on several occasions rude.

If he was extremely rude while being questioned by Milton Walker on TVJ, he was truly over the top on CVM when in response to what word other than 'unethical' he'd prefer to describe what he did, he told Kerlyn Brown to "go to hell!" What was that for? As far as I could see, Brown was only doing her job and she asked a very legitimate question. You see, based on his own words Warmington knew he was a US citizen when he ran for office here in Jamaica. Logically speaking, what he did was not only illegal, it was also unethical because his actions could be deemed deliberate, very well knowing the outcome and potential consequences of his actions. Now whether he wants to accept it or not, his actions were unethical; that is unless his definition of the word and mine are poles apart.

bad form

If he didn't want to be asked pertinent questions, he should have declined the invitations to be interviewed on national television, but since he did agree he ought to have simply answered the bloody questions or just say something like "I have no comment on that matter at this time". What did he think he was on air for? It certainly wasn't for his charm or his looks.

But you know, the media has to take some blame for people like Warmington. It is the job of the media to hold politicians accountable; to hold them to a higher standard. However, an unfortunate reality in media is that the minute a politician calls some of us by our first names and invites us to a couple house parties, we swoon like Cinderella the first time she sees her prince. What we should be doing is holding that spotlight high and bright on them, to keep them honest, as Anderson Cooper would say.

no respect

That is why Warmington and others like him behave the way they do, because they have no respect for the media. He should be called upon to apologise in writing and on air to the reporters who he had scant respect for in the public domain. Someone should also tell him that there is a difference between commanding respect and demanding it. If Warmington doesn't know the difference between the two, he should go look it up in the dictionary because I have spent enough time on him here already and I am not prepared to waste anymore and neither should the media.

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If he was extremely rude while being questioned by Milton Walker on TVJ, he was truly over the top on CVM when in response to what word other than 'unethical' he'd prefer to describe what he did, he told Kerlyn Brown to "go to hell!" What was that for?