Only in Jamaica
Recent revelations by Finance Minister Omar Davies at the PNP North St Andrew conference has put him and the PNP in deep political water. Politically speaking, the PNP is in trouble and it will be interesting to see how well things play out in the imminent local government election. After the PNP’s victory at the polls on October 16, 2002, the party’s short-lived honeymoon is over.
The Jamaican voters made their choice. The PNP was given a new mandate despite their track record of 13 years of corruption and ineptness. The clear choice the voters faced was re-electing a corrupt and inept government or elect an Opposition party whose track record speaks volumes of good governance in the ’60s and ’80s.
It is beyond my comprehension how a party with a track record of the PNP got re-elected. It seems like Jamaicans do appreciate corruption and mismanagement. A government that has squandered $6 billion-plus in taxpayers’ money, unleashed state terror on its people, aided and abetted a growing drug culture, unable to curb a growing crime rate, reducing the country’s economy to near total collapse, and leading the country into a cul-de-sac was given a new mandate. Only in Jamaica.
The blind masses will always follow messianic leaders. That was basically what happened in Jamaica on October 16, 2002. The success of the PNP in winning a fourth term in office just serves to demonstrate how unsophisticated Jamaican voters are. A government with such a checkered record like the PNP in any sophisticated society would have been in opposition today. History will bear me out that many societies have kicked out of office less corrupt and inept governments than the PNP.
Another reason I believe contributed to the JLP’s loss was the successful demonisation of Edward Seaga by certain unscrupulous members of the JLP and the PNP. The self-centred actions of certain dissenting voices in the JLP badly fractionalised the JLP. Those dissenting voices in the JLP have greatly assisted the PNP in doing more damages to Jamaica than most natural disasters that have hit Jamaica in the past. Unfortunately, some of them are now sitting in the Opposition benches with Mr Seaga. The sun is setting on some of them. They have not done as much as Edward Seaga has done for Jamaica and will never be able to match his record.
Seaga’s economic model for Jamaica was emulated by Singapore, and it has had a positive impact on Singapore’s economy. Singapore’s economy is today one of the strongest in Asia. Why is it that Singapore copied the economic model of Edward Seaga and successfully transformed the country into such an economic success while Jamaica remains one of the world’s poorer countries, despite the fact we are living so close to the world’s richest country? The simple truth is that the PNP wrecked the country’s economy in the seventies and has continued doing so after Seaga’s successful effort to rebuild it in the ’80s.
Despite the JLP’s loss, it is safe to conclude that the PNP was a big loser in this race. A loss of 14 seats by the governing PNP despite their boast of solid achievements was a big loss for them. The JLP with 26 members in the house has grown in strength. We are witnessing an Opposition party with 26 powerful members who could do to the PNP what the 13 Opposition members did to the PNP government of the seventies – that is, bring them down prematurely.
Constitutional reform and Jamaica’s participation in the unpopular Caribbean Court of Justice can only become a reality if the JLP decides to support the government on those issues. My bet is that the JLP will be the one to call the shots on both of those issues. While the PNP may be able to enact legislation to bring Jamaica into the Caribbean Court of Justice, it is impossible for them to implement major constitutional reform without the JLP fully supporting it.
For constitutional reform to take place, at least two-thirds of the Senate and the house must support such a measure. With 60 seats in the House, it means that it will need 40 members to vote “yes”. With only 34 elected members in the House, the PNP alone cannot do it. It is safe to conclude that PJ Patterson’s dream of being “President PJ Patterson” is becoming very remote.
Unlike the late Norman Manley who put the issue of Jamaica’s participation in Federation to the voters, there’s reason to believe that PJ Patterson will not go to the electorate to decide on constitutional reform.
One thing I am willing to bet heavily on is that the JLP in Opposition with 26 members will be a stronger force to reckon with. Time will tell, dear readers.
George Lawson is a freelance journalist and a school teacher in the New York City public school system.
E-mail: geelaws@hotmail.com