Mark Golding, leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and president of the People’s National Party (PNP), has been criss-crossing Jamaica for many months. He has said repeatedly on the hustings that the party which he leads is able and ready to wrestle away the keys to Jamaica House from the Andrew Holness-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Is Golding’s claim supported by objective evidence or is he merely spewing balderdash?

I maintain that since Golding is our prime minister-in-waiting every citizen has not just a responsibility but a duty to vigorously interrogate his fitness for managing Jamaica’s national affairs. One does not have to be a political Einstein to realise that being the political head of the Jamaican State is an extremely demanding job.

At a minimum, Golding needs a united party if he is to become prime minister. Why? Folks do not vote for a divided party to take on the reins of governing national affairs. Does Golding have a united party?

Recall that in early June 2021 Golding was up and out on the political hustings in Petersfield, Westmoreland. Petersfield is located in the constituency of Westmoreland Central. Except in recent times, it was a stronghold of the PNP. The seat was once dubbed Roger Clarke’s stomping ground.

Anyways, according to some pundits at the mentioned time, Golding was figuring that a by-election was in the offing owing to an awful allegation involving the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) George Wright. The ‘political gods’ were going to throw him a lifeline, Golding thought. That did not happen. Why? Some say 89 Old Hope Road did not appease the ‘political gods’.

Think the corrosive political infighting occasioned by the severely bitter leadership election to choose a successor to Dr Peter Phillips in November 2020.

Some pundits say it was Golding’s pining after a byelection which precipitated a Nicodemus-type press release on May 31, 2021, from his party.

Radio Jamaica noted: “The People’s National Party (PNP) has outlined a plan of action aimed at restoring unity in the 83-year-old political organisation.

“In a statement issued Monday night, the PNP said its officers have committed to work together to build trust among themselves and within the wider party.

“The party says it will take immediate steps to engage the executive, parliamentary groups, regional bodies and arms and affiliates using what it described as Unity Conversations which started in January this year.

“It is also planning to deploy regional ‘unity builders’ and mediators to address issues as they arise.

“The statement says the executive of the PNP has activated the party’s Internal Affairs Commission and its Disciplinary Committee to take steps to forge harmony and ensure adherence to the Party’s constitution and code of conduct.

“The statement is signed by 13 members of the officer corps, including President Mark Golding; General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell; vice-presidents Damion Crawford, Mikael Phillips, and Dr Wykeham McNeill; and Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Peter Bunting.

“Reports have surfaced in recent weeks of growing disunity in the People’s National Party. This has led some observers to question the viability of the party as an Opposition.

“The PNP is also facing growing criticism of how it has handled the controversy involving its general secretary, Dr Dayton Campbell.

“There have been calls for Dr Campbell to step away from the post in light of allegations made against him by his another PNP member, Karen Cross.

“The PNP has rejected those calls, however, saying the allegations fail to meet any reasonable standard of credibility.” (RJR News, June 1, 2021)

Two years after the implementation of the “Unity Plan” the PNP, on the basis of evidence in the public space, remains firmly unified in division. The divisiveness is deep as evidenced in these headlines:

1) ‘ ‘All gloves are off’, said Dawes in response to death threats’ (Jamaica Observer, May 6, 2023)

2) ‘PNP condemns burning of constituency office, awaits outcome of investigation’ (Jamaica Observer, June 13, 2023)

3) ‘Verbal clash at start of PNP run-off in St Elizabeth NE’ (Jamaica Observer, June 18, 2023)

Who must take primary responsibility for these severely mismanaged and, in some instances, violent constituency contests? I think Golding cannot escape the lion’s share of the blame.

Some weeks ago I said here that, “Mark Golding, leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and president of the PNP, seems to have sown the dragon’s teeth regarding the selection policy being used to decide who will represent Norman Manley’s party in the next general election. Golding says his actions were implemented to prevent strife; the very opposite has come about.”

The term ‘sowing the dragon’s teeth’ is used to refer to doing something that has the effect of fomenting disputes and troubles. Some authorities use the phrase to mean action that is intended to prevent strife or trouble but actually brings it about.

Bitterness and strife

Last week the severely divisive consequences of ‘sowing the dragon’s teeth’ came ‘to bump’ (exploded), as we say in local parlance.

Headline: ‘Three Western Westmoreland councillors resign from PNP’

The Radio Jamaica story said, among other things: “Three People’s National Party (PNP) councillors for Western Westmoreland have resigned from the party.

They are: Ian Myles, of the Little London Division; Garfield James, councillor for the Sheffield Division; and Lawton McKenzie, of the Grange Hill Division.

The councillors say they have difficulty working with caretaker for the Westmoreland Western constituency Ian Hayles.” (RJR News, July 10, 2023)

For many weeks it was noised on the public pavement that many PNP supporters in Westmoreland were not happy with Ian Hayles. This was primarily because of what they described as his chequered tenure in Hanover. Members of the PNP’s hierarchy say they made several interventions to quell tensions. Clearly, these did not work.

These snippets from an item on Nationwide News Network, last Monday, speak to a party which continues to splatter, sputter and splinter:

“Another supporter from the Sheffield Division, Tian Samuels, blames both General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell and party leader Mark Golding for their handling of the Western Westmoreland race.

“Samuels described their handling of the situation as a ‘mortifying disgrace’.

“Councillor Garfield James has described General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell as ‘the most destructive force in the party’.”

In light of the biting dissension and divisions in the PNP, it is foolhardy to take Golding seriously when he beats his chest on the stomp and says his party is united. The strife in the PNP is a terrible harbinger.

There is a local saying, “When fish come from river bottom and tell yuh sah shark dung deh, believe him.” Many fishes in the PNP have warned us. We best ‘tek sleep and mark death’.

Adult supervision missing

Now, I anticipate some are going to howl, “But, Higgins, the strife in the PNP has been going on in recent times and for only two year.” Those persons need to get their mathematics right.

The Unity Plan mentioned was actually a rehash of the aborted ‘Comrades Grassroot Reasoning’, which ended in a whimper in 2016. Recall that roughly two-and-half months after the PNP’s defeat in the February 25, 2016 General Election, it held, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, a ‘reasoning session’ in which members of the organisation were asked to express their heartfelt views about the party.

The reasoning was held on Sunday, April 24, 2016. There, vocal party councillor for the Papine Division, Venesha Phillips, ripped into a great political wound. A mix of political puss and blood spewed out. She submitted that the PNP had helped to destroy the self-worth and the pride of Jamaicans and used them as pawns in a game.

“Instead of empowering them… we use money as a weapon, and we have brought our people to their knees just so we can establish our own cause,” Phillips protested. (Jamaica Observer, April 25, 2016)

Media reports say ‘reasoning sessions’ thereafter were few and far between. Some reports say they all but came to naught.

The PNP has been in upheaval for almost eight continuous years. Now, I know some are going scream, “Higgins, the JLP was in turmoil for nearly 20 years.” They are not wrong. The JLP paid a great price for the divisions. They wandered in the political wilderness for almost two decades.

At a campaign meeting in Manchester Central last week, KD Knight, former senator and minister in several PNP administrations, admonished Comrades that, “No party in Jamaica has ever won an election when that party is divided, so time come now for unity in the People’s National Party, cut the crap! Cut the nonsense! Cut the foolishness!” It is evident, except to rabid Comrades, that the bad blood between the ‘RiseUnited’ and ‘OnePNP’ factions is still ‘boiling’, as we say in local parlance.

The PNP clearly needs adult supervision.

The divisions which help to secure defeat in the general elections of 2016, 2020, and the by-elections in St Mary South Eastern in 2017 and Portland Eastern in 2019, are grinding away at the very foundations of Norman Manley’s party.

Added to the core of the affliction of bitter divisions in the PNP is the factory fault with its message.

While Dr Peter Phillips sat atop the perch of his party I emphatically said here that the PNP’s communication/political strategy was a dud. In my The Agenda piece on April 15, 2018, I wrote, among other things: “The PNP’s ‘strategy’ of ‘say something, anything, about everything’ is another rusty nail in the party’s political coffin.” The PNP’s central message today is situated on negativism.

Last week Golding took his election campaign to St Thomas. He got into a tirade about how the incomplete highway into one of the most neglected parishes, until recently, was in a terrible state. The incomplete road was evidence of rank incompetence by the Holness Administration, Golding roared. In his broadside, Golding did not deliver an iota of a new and or better idea on how he envisaged that a future PNP Administration would treat with the matter of road and infrastructural development.

Golding has been using negativism like a flamethrower wherever he goes on the campaign trail. For over a year I have been asking in this space for the PNP to present to the country its new and/or better ideas to remedy the long-standing problems in education, crime, in particular our abnormal rate of murders, social decline, how to increase economic growth and development faster, among other crucial areas which will determine whether Jamaica achieve its 2030 goal of becoming “the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business”. So far the PNP has not presented any practical and/or fundable answers. What will Jamaica look like after five years of a future Administration led by Mark Golding? The country needs to know. I am happy, though, that two media houses have now joined in asking similar questions.

The clock is ticking. Simply promising trailer-loads of free stuff will not take the PNP back to Jamaica House. Folks know that ‘three-card trick’ and they know the sleight of hand narrative of the PNP confederates in sections of the media and some institutions of higher education. As I see it, the PNP’s principal message centre on fake news, misguided bluster, empty chat, political deflection, ‘bad mind’, threats and attempts at filibuster. These are tired tactics.

Today, folks want hope that they can realistically believe. They want to see the operational specifics of the PNP’s plans. How will the PNP pay for all the free stuff which they are promising to flood the country? And where is the production base to support their promises of mass giveaways? We need answers.

Garfield Higgins is an educator, journalist, and a senior advisor to the minister of education and youth. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.

PULL QUOTE

Golding has been using negativism like a flamethrower wherever he goes on the campaign trail. For over a year I have been asking in this space for the PNP to present to the country its new and/or better ideas to remedy the long-standing problems in education, crime, in particular our abnormal rate of murders, social decline, how to increase economic growth and development faster, among other crucial areas which will determine whether Jamaica achieve its 2030 goal of becoming “the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business”. So far the PNP has not presented any practical and/or fundable answers. What will Jamaica look like after five years of a future Administration led by Mark Golding? The country needs to know. I am happy, though, that two media houses have now joined in asking similar questions