Fix it!: Representation must be respectful
The brouhaha ongoing in St Catherine South Eastern must not escape our attention as it has the potential to drag the nation back to a time we hope to never again return.
That the selection of a candidate for political representation can still descend to the issuing of threats of death and injury and the contemporaneous fire-bombing of a constituency office must cause all well-thinking Jamaicans, on both sides of the political divide, to sit up and take notice.
Yes, the instant case has been the challenge of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP), but members of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) should take no schadenfreude, as the stain is on the institution that is democracy in this land.
We, in this space, point no fingers on any particular player in the many exchanges that have made their way into the social media space or mainstream media. Instead, we call on the party organisations to take the intentional and deliberate steps to correct the rift that exists.
What’s more, whether by moral suasion or sanction, they must see to it that this ugly head of disharmony has no place within their bounds.
There is no expectation of kumbaya hand-holding or passive followership; democracy is best tested by opposing views. But how the advocates represent their positions and candidates ought to be undergirded by civility and basic decency.
We have come too far on this road as a settled State to make retrograde steps because of a small, rabble-rousing set.
The days when fear and firepower were the tools of political campaigning must never again resurface. The time when the best and brightest shunned representation because they avoided the mire must never again take hold.
Our maturity as a nation able to have views contend is at threat and the institutions upon which our foundation is secured must be used to safeguard our future.
Internecine disagreement or contention across party lines that fall below the standards established by our democracy must be met with the requisite strong arm of correction to quell bad behaviour and set right the parties involved. The ability to self-regulate has to be built into our party organisations so as to secure the positions of power.
The St Catherine South Eastern incident is a hangnail that must cause all political aspirants — be they interested in Parliament or municipal elections — to take note that thuggery and the reliance on the discarded playbook for political ascendancy will not be tolerated.
And, at threat of being seen as striking against the system, the electorate must decide that it will not support candidates who subscribe to violent tactics. Such must be the maturity of candidacy selection.
We await the action of the leaders of the PNP as they strike against the devolution of the political climate. Inaction would send the absolutely wrong signal to a party hoping to invigorate its membership to again elect it to office.
Talk of a new system and no public utterance on the matter speak to a weakness to self-regulate.
The opportunity is rife for both political parties to rid themselves of the brutish forces who would act in the way demonstrated in St Catherine South Eastern. Anything less threatens the nation as a whole.