If they will abandon their most cherished principles in Opposition what will they do with their promises in Government? — Margaret Thatcher

The late three-time prime minister of the United Kingdom (UK), fired this very powerful political projectile into the body armour of Neil Kinnock, then leader of the Opposition and the British Labour Party (BLP), the fraternal peer of the People’s National Party (PNP), in the run-up to the UK’s 1987 General Election. Politically, Kinnock never recovered.

Why was Thatcher able to deliver such an effective career ending blow to the political solar plexus? Kinnock, unlike some of his predecessors, was accused by many in the inner sanctum of his party, large sections of the media, and several notable political pundits of playing see-saw with the foundational principles of the BLP.

In the general election of 1992, Kinnock faced John Major, Thatcher’s successor and a relative political newbie. Kinnock’s party had a 20-percentage points lead, according to most scientific polls. Most pollsters predicted a sizeable BLP win. They were wrong, very wrong. The Conservatives (Tories) won by over 14 million votes, which remains to this day a record for any British political party.

Why did the BLP suffer this massive defeat? According to some noted political scholars, among other things, Labour did not prove it could fund its numerous promises. The BLP suffered from the historical tax and spend millstone around its neck. Relatedly, it was seen as a poor manager of the economy.

Kinnock was viewed as out of touch with many of the aspirations of especially younger Brits, post-Thatcher’s privatisation and liberalisation era. Several noted political scholars say, however, that the biggest reason for Labour’s defeat in 1992 was that Kinnock came to be seen as a man lacking political principles and willing to win at all cost.

Mark Twain, famed American writer, said: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Which means, while details change, circumstances change, settings change, names change, similar events will essentially recycle. A very noteworthy recycling is happening in local politics right before our eyes.

If we close our eyes to the mentioned lessons of history, the consequences will be near catastrophic, again.

I have argued in this space with ample examples that the leader of the Opposition and president of the PNP Mark Golding is a flip-flopper. I stand by that. I continue to believe that he is not prime ministerial material. He has been consistently inconsistent, especially since his ascension to the helm of Norman Manley’s party in 2020. Nearly four years on, Golding’s flip-flopping ways have seemingly caught up with him and are threatening to derail his political ambitions to take the keys of Jamaica House away from Andrew Holness and the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Last week Friday Golding spoke at a divisional meeting in St Ann. Among other things, he said: “Jamaica needs a Government of accountability, transparency and integrity.” Golding has branded himself Mr Accountability, Transparency and Integrity; however, political fruits do not align with his words.

In 2020, days after Golding flew atop the shaky perch that is the PNP, he declared publicly: “I am a born Jamaican.” While on his “listening tour” across the country, Golding said at several meetings: “Mi a born Jamaican.” During his two-year trek islandwide in preparation for the recently held local government election, which the PNP lost, Golding said, not once, not twice: “Is Jamaica I man born and grow.”

On none of these and related occasions did Golding inform Jamaicans that he was still a British citizen.

Some for reasons that are obvious to anyone with even a modicum of common sense are mouthing, “But there was no obligation in law for Golding to make such a declaration.”

These intellectual ‘ping pongers’ (my coinage) pretend that they don’t get it. They jolly well do. I strongly believe that they suffer with what the founding president of the PNP called an “abominable corruption of consciousness”.

Why did Mr Transparency not tell Jamaicans that he was still a British citizen? Was it that he calculated that such a revelation would be severely politically unpalatable, given that he is a white man in a country with a majority black population? Was it that Golding thought he could get away with not telling Jamaicans? Is it that he was advised to keep the matter of his dual citizenship hush-hush? Was it due to feelings of entitlement? Or was Golding’s failure to disclose part of some bigger objective that was to become obvious after some future event? Whatever the reasons, Jamaicans deserve answers to these and related questions.

Golding was appointed to our Senate in 2007. In later years he served as minister of justice. It is scandalous that it took him 17 years to disclose that he is still a British citizen. At a May 14, 2024 presser Golding said he had instructed representatives on the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) not to sign off on the committee’s report until the Government had responded to concerns raised by the Opposition. Said Golding: “In our brief meeting behind the Speaker’s Chair in Gordon House on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 I indicated that the move away from the British monarch as our head of State should coincide with the move away from the British monarch’s court in London to the Caribbean Court of Justice [CCJ] as our final court of appeal, so as to achieve a seamless transition to full decolonisation rather than a piecemeal, phased approach with no guarantee of its attainment. I pointed out that this is a fundamental issue for us, and let me know the Government’s position.”

It should not be a case where Jamaica has “one foot in and one foot out of King Charles’ yard”. It was that salvo by Golding which triggered dozens of calls on social media and elsewhere for him to declare whether he’s both a Jamaican and British citizen.

In a post on social media, last Saturday, Golding stated among other things: “I am a born Jamaican and have a Jamaican passport.” That line sounds familiar? Golding’s post last Saturday, among other things, succeeded in opening a mighty floodgate which resulted in a deluge of questions and criticisms of the alternative prime minister.

The news item ‘Golding still a British citizen’ said, among other things: “Amid widespread calls for him to declare his British citizenship, Opposition Leader Mark Golding has indicated that he remains a British citizen but insists that there is no legal basis for him to renounce his status in the UK at this time.

“ ‘I am a Jamaican citizen by birth. I am also a UK citizen by descent. I have not renounced my British citizenship as it is not legally necessary for me to do so,’ Golding told The Gleaner…”

Is this what Golding’s brand of accountability, transparency and integrity is founded on? Surely accountability, transparency and integrity are made of sterner stuff. One does not need prescription glasses to see that Golding succumbed only because of the might of public pressure.

If the lack of accountability, transparency and integrity evidenced in this British citizenship flip flop and related obfuscations are the sum total of Golding’s brand of accountability, transparency and integrity, we need to be afraid, very afraid, in fact.

Golding said there is no legal basis for him to renounce his UK status, which gives rise to the question: Under what circumstances might he be prepared to renounce? Was Golding waiting and watching to see the outcome of next year’s general election?

I frown on political leaders who have jumped ship when things have got socially, economically and politically lean for them. Some of those former political leaders are today living in First-World countries. Some are the very same people contributed to the dwarfing of our potential as a people through the implementation of severely imprudent and debilitating policies and programmes which have brought tremendous hardship and hurt to thousands of us.

For those who love to invent phantoms, let me declare, I have no green card. I am a citizen of Jamaica, only Jamaica, by birth and choice. Yes, I have travelled abroad for various reasons. Yes, I have had several opportunities to live elsewhere.

Golding said it was his personal view, and not that of the PNP, that dual citizens should be eligible to sit as Members of Parliament (MP). There was no prior announcement on position of the PNP on the matter of individuals holding dual citizenship. So what is the position of the PNP on the matter? The answer to this question is hugely important.

Recall the issue of dual citizenship featured heavily in the aftermath of the September 2007 General Election. The PNP went to court to have five JLP MPs, starting with Daryl Vaz in Portland Western, removed from office on the grounds that they were dual citizens at the time of their nomination and hence ineligible to stand for office. The PNP failed to take Jamaica House via the courts. The courts ordered renunciations and by-elections. These JLP retained Jamaica House.

I don’t believe anyone who is eligible to be elected to our Senate and or House of Representatives should be a dual citizen. Divided loyalties are the epitome of ‘one foot in and one out’.

Golding says he will renounce his British citizenship if the Jamaican people want him to, and that he will pray and reflect on the matter. Laughable! I believe Golding jolly well knows what he needs to do, but he also recognises that so much damage has been done to him by him that, as we say in local parlance, “any weh him tun macka jook him”.

Golding’s brand of accountability, transparency and integrity has evidently landed him into a massive political pickle. The reliable Black-bellied Plovers, Bananaquits and John Chewits tweet that some in the inner sanctum of PNP are seriously mouthing that the captain has become a big liability to the ship. They shriek that the captain will have to make some quick and rather weighty concessions to those who have been threatening mutiny since he became skipper. They sing that if Golding fails to deliver major concessions he will be dumped overboard. A political Einstein is not needed to figure that major concessions to those with daggers drawn will be hard for Golding. He does not have much in the way of political patronage to hand out.

The big question is: If they will abandon their most cherished principles in Opposition what will they do with their promises in Government? Well-thinking Jamaicans need to be contemplating their answer to this critical question at this time. Can we trust Golding’s brand of accountability, transparency and integrity?

The truth is Golding can shout the words accountability, transparency and integrity until he is blue in the face, what is crucial are his actions. Actions speak louder than words.

Our economy is in a good state. The JLP’s strategy of modernisation of our roads, education system, courts, heath facilities, public sector, country-wide high-speed Internet, etc, are all bearing good fruits. Results which matter to the pockets, dinner tables, and the development of our people’s minds are what matter, not the mere shouting of three words.

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