The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven, upon the place beneath” (Merchant of Venice).  

On April 2, 2017 Portia Simpson Miller, a woman known for her compassion and love for her people especially the poor, will demit office as leader of the Opposition and president of the Peoples National Party (PNP).

She will hand over leadership of the PNP to the ‘thinker’ Dr Peter Phillips, who is widely expected to reinvigorate and rejuvenate a hapless and rudderless party.

There are those who blame Sister P for the present condition the party now find itself in, however, it is my view that the decline of the PNP started when it became an election winning machinery, whose main purpose was to win state power and reward the ‘lumpens’ that depended on the party for their survival.

The idea that Mama P will be demitting office without leaving a legacy is dishonest and shows our failure as a country to assess issues dispassionately, putting aside class and our partisan  ‘hangovers’, and seriously dissecting what Portia Simpson Miller represents and means to the people who she served for 40 plus years.

What a symbolic legacy! The poor girl from Wood Hall in St Catherine who became prime minister is a strong message to girls and boys alike that your origin does not determine your destiny.

It might be that you did not attend ‘a good school’ or fail to acquire a university degree, or if you did, you attended one that does not boast prestigious past students.  A look at the life of the leader of the Opposition will remind you that anything is possible, miracles do happen.

Mrs Simpson Miller’s rise is also a strong message and legacy to our women and girls as they seek to overcome the social ills such as abuse that affect them. She did it! So I can do it too!

The people of Jamaica, for a time, believed she had what it took to lead us; the same cannot be said of the ‘great’ country to the north where women rejected one of their own in droves.

The government that the outgoing Opposition leader led was able to lead this country in tackling our unsustainable economic conditions when she became prime minister the second time around.

Portia was the right doctor to prescribe and administer the ‘bitter medicine’, and we must do this if we are going to make this country prosperous.

History will be kind to her as the leader who laid the foundation for economic recovery, growth and development if the current economic trajectory should continue. She was the minister who laid the foundation so that tourism and sports could be the beacon that they are now.  

Mama P’s failures are there for us to see. She failed to use her massive political capital to address some of the issues that our women, children and the poor face, such as making it the law of the land that all fathers name must be on their child’s or children’s birth certificate.

Once she was elected she went into hiding and seemed out of her league at times. She erred greatly in her choice of close advisers and handlers, who latched on to her ‘skirt tail’ to promote themselves and for their own aggrandisement.

They failed to grasp what the rise of a Mama P meant to the masses and hence guided her in giving lip service to them. However, they also pushed a legislative agenda that would continue the progressive agenda of her mentor Michael Manley.  

I guess once she lost the ‘sheen’ we realised that Mama P is only human and is prone to err and blunder like we all do. But she was a genuine leader whose heart we could see, hear and feel as it pulsed with love and concern for her people.

I will remember the Portia who went against her party in Parliament as minister of local government. With a smile, I will also remember the Portia who, beating her chest, reminded us that ‘she no fraid a no gal no boy nowhere’, that’s my Mama P.

She is no Obama and yes for some she was not a ‘game changer’. I hope for the sake of us all that the man who will ascend to the throne and the one that currently leads this country will be the ‘game changer’ that we speak and write about.

Walk good Mama P.

Shane Reid

Teacher & Jaycee

Hopewell, Hanover