There is a story of a man who walked along a cliff. He was warned that the cliff was prone to landslips. The section where he walked crumbled beneath his feet. He slipped. Right quick, he reached out and grabbed onto a tree trunk which protruded. He could not climb back up without help, however. Below were jagged rocks and crashing waves. The man looked up and shouted, “Is there anyone up there!” A voice soon filled the surrounding. It was the voice of God. God said to the man: “My son, you need to repent.” Frightened, the man hugged onto the tree truck even tighter. He thought for several seconds. He looked up, and then with his characteristic stubbornness, he asked, again: “Is there anyone else up there!”

I believe the leader of the Opposition and People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding is the political equivalent of the man in this story. Like the unfortunate man, Golding, too, seems to be asking: “Is there anyone else up there!”

Why do I say this? Nearly a month ago, Golding said he needed to reflect on the fact that he is still a British citizen. Then he said he would renounce if the Jamaica people wanted him to. Last Sunday this newspaper carried the findings of a scientific poll which noted that over 60 per cent of electors wanted Golding to renounce. Today is seven days since: Golding is still a British citizen.

‘Dual citizenship dilemma — 64% of Jamaicans polled reject PM with split loyalties’, the front page of last Sunday’s Observer read.
The news item also noted: “Golding has argued that he is a Jamaican citizen by birth and a British citizen by descent and he has not renounced his British citizenship because, based on the constitution, it is not legally necessary for him to do so.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents said that Golding should renounce his British citizenship if he plans to remain in contention to lead the Government, while only 29 per cent said he should not.

.

The poll also found that the majority of Jamaicans feel a prime minister who has dual citizenship might face a conflict of interest when making decisions for the country.

How much longer will Golding continue to hang from the precipice? Three Sundays ago I said here that this dual citizenship laceration will not be a nine-day wonder. I noted two Sundays ago, that the Band-aids of diversions and deflections will not heal the massive gash which Golding has inflicted on himself and the PNP. The longer Golding waits the worse the political gangrene.

The reliable Black-Bellied Plovers, Bananaquits, and John Chewits sing that the upper echelon of the PNP are very unhappy with Golding’s obstinacy.

In my piece on May 26, 2024 I indicated the severe discomfiture of many in the top brass of the PNP with Golding’s hesitation to do the right thing. Recall, I noted, among other things: “[S]ome in the inner sanctum of the 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.”

Former Prime Minister P J Patterson is obviously not one of those in the PNP who could or should be described as having “a lean and hungry look”. Patterson, like former Prime Minister Bruce Golding post his retirement from representational politics, has donned the noble hat of statesman. I was not at all surprised, therefore, that when speaking at a ‘Reasoning about the Jamaican Constitution’ with members of the public at the Faculty of Law, The University of the West Indies, Mona, two weeks ago, Patterson spoke candidly.

Patterson suggested that positions such as the chief of [defence] staff, permanent secretaries, members of the defence board, the chief justice, the president of the Court of Appeal, electoral commissioners, and the director of elections should not hold dual citizenship.

Patterson makes eminent sense.

When it came to public light that Golding was still a British citizen, I said here that only Jamaican citizens must be eligible to sit in the House of Representatives and our Senate. I was not thinking of other key and sensitive posts in the apparatus of Government then. I am glad Patterson has added the critical dimension of other key and sensitive posts to the public debate.

Golding says he is an unrepentant adherent of “total decolonisation”, yet he simultaneously hangs on to his British citizenship. It is a contradiction.

Suddenly…

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said, “Gradually and then suddenly.” This dialogue is taken from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. Decoded, change is hard and will happen gradually and then suddenly. What message was Hemingway conveying? It is an alert about the see-saw effects of change on people and places, I believe. Some scholars say Hemingway, among other things, was also warning against the negatives of accumulated and particularly bad habits and how these can impede change and development.

I believe suddenly is now upon the PNP. Why? Since the unceremonious departure of former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, the PNP has been going through what I see as a process of gradual decline.

Recall the acrimonious conflict between the Dr Peter Phillips-led OnePNP and the Peter Bunting-led RiseUnited factions in the contest to decide the head of the PNP. Dr Phillips ‘saw the rake’, as we say in local parlance, and quickly fled the lofty perch at 89 Old Road when he was pummelled in the September 3, 2020 General Election. His departure resulted in a contentious struggle between Lisa Hanna and Mark Golding. Golding triumphed.

I believe that even with the PNP coming out stronger than it went into the recently held local government election, which they lost, a high residual tension between factions in the PNP remains. Those tensions the birds tweet are soon to boil over into the public space, again.

Recall, I said among other things, in my piece on May 12, 2024, “Third, there is the small matter of the personal bacon of Golding and those who belong to his faction of the PNP. Golding’s political hide has been spared, temporarily so. If Golding does not win the next general election, like Dr Peter Phillip, his predecessor, he will have to tender his resignation with great haste. No ‘decent draw’ (coming out stronger than you go in) — which I predicted would have been Golding’s only life jacket in the recently held local government election — will be available in a parliamentary contest.”

Of course, I did not definitively know that Golding was still a British citizen then. Like the rest of the country, I found out for certain when the Old Lady of North Street carried this screaming headline ‘“Golding still a British citizen’ on May 20, 2024.

Recall that questions regarding Golding’s dual citizenship starting flying left, right and centre after the PNP’s press conference on May 14, 2024. Incidentally, I believe the PNP has not had a press conference since then. I wonder why? Up to May 14, 2024, they had a presser at least one per week.

Apology needed

Wednesday of this week will be the 48th anniversary of the dreaded 1976 State of Emergency.

One of the dozens of Jamaicans who were illegally detained during that sordid period was Ray Miles. Miles died recently.
Reuters, on June 21, 1976, noted among other things: “Ray Miles, public relations director for the Jamaica Labour Party, and four party members were arrested Saturday after the Government decreed the emergency to curb violence.”

Miles was promptly released when the then Michael Manley Administration found out that he was a British citizen.

I wonder if this bit of history has significance for happenings in Jamaica today.

How did it all start? Gradually, and then suddenly!

Former Prime Minister Michael Manley told Parliament in 1976 that “new and unique types of violence” [Hansard] had been imported into Jamaica and, therefore, the need for a state of emergency. This was declared on June 19, 1976. Scores of Jamaicans, many Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters, were locked up, beaten, and imprisoned. Some were killed. Dozens were forced to flee their homeland in order to save life and limb.

Recall that a commission of enquiry, headed by the then Chief Justice Kenneth Smith, was set up to look into the state of emergency. The findings of the Smith Commission revealed that the state of emergency’s calling was predicated upon the facilitation of political opportunism and not bona fide concerns about national security.

The Smith Commission also uncovered that the heads of both intelligence agencies of government — the Special Branch of the police force and the Military Intelligence Unit (MIU) of the Jamaica Defence Force — never advised Manley of any potential threat to national security during Carifesta and, indeed, Deputy Commissioner Curtis Griffiths, head of the Special Branch, testified to the commission that he knew nothing about the intention to declare a state of emergency; he read of it in the press, although he was the chief intelligence officer of government.

Captain Carl Marsh, in charge of the MIU, also gave eye-opening testimony. He advised that there was no need for a state of emergency.

The records are available at the Institute of Jamaica and The University of the West Indies, Mona archives.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, after just two and half years in office, apologised for the hurt caused by the 1963 Coral Gardens massacre and the Tivoli Gardens joint security forces operation in May 2010. It was simply the right thing to do.

The PNP has yet to apologised for any of the numerous wicked acts which happened on its watch.

Garfield Higgins

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.