Out of love with elections
Dear Editor,
Jamaica is gearing up for the most boring election ever.
What can be offered to the Jamaican voting cohort? As singer Tracy Chapman laments, “If not now, then when? Then why make your promises, a love declared for days to come is as good as none.” Empty promises and in some cases “not even a lick and a promise”. There is little to entice the populace. No tangible incentives present — neither water nor wine. A sour love story. A wedding few will attend, and no one will enjoy!
Nothing meaningful has been provided in full measure to the Jamaican people but limited financial scope and unstable housing .
Sadly, no one is a true get-the-job-done person. Everyone wants to be the boss, barking out instructions without any sense of direction for sustainable development.
Political structures are destroyed as councillors undermine the authority of the Member of Parliament or appointed caretaker. Artiste Jahmiel chants, their “true colours” are revealed. Totally missing the forest for the trees. They secure their turf division and will not be “running up and down di place fi no baddie”. Understandably, however, and truth be told, many offering themselves for candidacy as a Member of Parliament should eat humble pie and run the councillor race.
Women in both political parties who are really “working the show”, it is your time to take over the reins. Stop giving the win on a platter to the lazy. This move will restore vibrancy to the political landscape.
Securing a base is critical to political victory, but all want the icing on the cake without the necessary ingredients and enduring the fire of the oven. Stalwart politicians like Portia Simpson Miller have done that independent pulling up of one’s own bootstraps, rung by rung. She is a victor, a six-foot-tall ‘Wonder Woman’.
Portia knew the road but also how to avoid the potholes. Desmond McKenzie cannot be easily floored, as he knows the ground and the grass roots.
So why do some complain? Why not just find the appropriate technology and repair those cavernous ditches, now, today!
Disheartened Local