Mark Golding, Opposition leader and president of the People’s National Party (PNP), says he will contest local government by-elections, but not the St Ann North Eastern parliamentary by-election. Similar parliamentary by-elections are likely to be held soon, said Prime Minister Andrew Holness. Golding says he will not contest those.

Golding’s refusal to contest the upcoming St Ann North Eastern by-election and similar contests, to me, is more evidence that the PNP is not an “evident Government-in-waiting”. I discussed the practical meaning of the mentioned designation last Sunday.

Golding says his refusal to contest the pending by-election in St Ann North Eastern is predicated on principle. You can’t make this stuff up!

For many months Golding and other senior members of his party have been up and down the highway and byways of this country, shouting “Time come!” The PNP has now been handed a big opportunity to show that its machinery is in the tip-top shape — which it professes, publicly and persistently — and it bows out.

The PNP’s Burj Khalifa is evidently built on sandbanks. Hence, its decision to “tek bush”.

I don’t see any evidence that Golding’s refusal to contest the upcoming by election in St Ann North Eastern is grounded in any genuine principle related to the safeguarding of democracy. Golding is simply seeking to save his own political skin, as I see it.

One does not need political transitional lenses to see that Golding is effectively still on probation at 89 Old Hope Road. Almost four years into his trial period, he is yet to win a consequential election.

Some in the PNP will continue to delude themselves that they won the local government election which was held earlier year. Their reasons and motivations are obvious to all, but the discerning.

For those who suffer with that awful affliction of advanced self-delusions, let me remind them of the declaration of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) on our 17th local government election. The ECJ is the duly constituted body responsible for the overall administration and management of elections in this country. Everyone understands this, except those cloaked in convenient self-delusion.

Said the ECJ: “With all the ballots counted, the result is that the JLP [Jamaica Labour Party] won the election for control of the local authorities with seven of the local authorities and the PNP won six of the local authorities inclusive of the Portmore Municipality.”

Doubtless some will shout: “But, Higgins, the PNP won the popular vote.” Yes, it did. But that does not mean the party won our 17th local government election. In the Western liberal democratic system political parties occasionally win the popular vote, but lose the election. This is not a riddle within an enigma.

Let me illustrate: In our general and parish council elections, the candidate with the most votes in each constituency/division becomes the Member of Parliament (MP) for a constituency or councillor for a parish council/division. And candidates from other parties get nothing. This is how the first-past-the-post system, which we inherited from the United Kingdom, works. Incidentally, parish councils were recently rebranded as municipal corporations.

Some at 89 Old Hope Road, despite the decades-old realities of the first-past-the-post system here at home, will continue to delude themselves that the PNP won on February 26, 2024. Why? Golding needed to win or achieve a “decent draw”, meaning the PNP had to come out electorally stronger than it went into the mentioned election if Golding were to continue occupying Norman Manley’s lofty perch. He achieved the latter. The PNP won the majority vote, but lost the election. It’s that simple.

Were Golding to contest the St Ann North Eastern by-election, or similar elections, the PNP would more than likely lose. That failure would provide those in the party who are anxious to oust Golding with a sharpened dagger, which they would gleefully plunge deep into his political back.

It is to no secret that the PNP is still divided into the ‘Rise United’ clan and the ‘One PNP’ clique. The saving of their political skins is the primary reason that Golding and others in the PNP have decided to tek bush. One does not need to be a political brainiac to figure that Golding knows that if he is displaced from his perch, several of his political lieutenants, including Dr Angela Brown Burke, party chairperson; and General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell, would have to quickly vacate the roost. As I, understand it, the political lacerations from the bitter internal PNP leadership races in 2015 and 2020 are not healed. Many in the PNP are anxiously waiting for an opportunity to settle scores.

As I see it, Golding and those loyal to him have to continuously delude themselves that they won last February. Unsurprisingly, up to the time of writing, Mark Golding had not conceded to losing the February 2024 parish council elections. The reason is also conspicuous. Recall that Golding, buoyed by certain injudicious media projections on the night of the count, jumped the gun and started a premature celebratory hop at 89 Old Hope Road. It did not last long. When it became obvious — maybe except to those who suffer with political delusions — that the PNP did not in fact win, one journalist asked Golding if he was going to concede.

“I am conceding nothing,” said Golding. His refusal to do the right thing is a great harbinger. It should greatly alarm all well-thinking Jamaicans. We must remain vigilant.

Not ‘unprecedented’

This vigilance must centre on, among other things, heightened watchfulness for fake news, which can take the form, for example, of historical and convenient misremembering.

I am being severely euphemistic here. The PNP has been noising it high and low that the circumstances of the upcoming by-elections which they will not contest are “hasty and unprecedented”. This is a convenient invention.

Consider this factual account: “Truth is Government’s must govern. By-elections are part of our process under the Westminster system. In 2001 the PNP Administration called a by-election, and then a general election was held the following year.

Near the end of 2014 a by-election was called by the PNP Administration and just over a year later a general election was held in February 2016.

This Christopher Columbus-esque discovery of principle espoused by Dr Campbell is typical of the PNP. “Their supposed principles fluctuate and are convenient,” Senator Abka Fitz-Henley hit back. He also accused the PNP of backing out of the St Ann North Eastern by-election because the party is aware that it does not have the confidence of the Jamaican electorate. (Jamaica Observer, September 5, 2024)

By-elections are crucial markers of the health of parties and their leaders. Those who mouth that they are adherents to democracy, but are only willing to contest by-elections which they figure they can win, are imposters. We must be weary of them. The people of St Ann North Eastern will be denied the opportunity of a choice between our two major political parties. I frown on this. Were he alive, I don’t believe Norman Manley, the founding president of the PNP, would have made the decision to deny the people of At Ann North Eastern that choice.

I see a certain Trump-like deteriorations taking set in Norman Manley’s Party. These include failure to concede when the party loses, castigations of civil servants, the vicious spread of fake news, the seeming embrace of voter fraud and ‘badmanish’ or violence. Recall Golding’s “Time to get wicked pon dem,” tirade. Adult leadership in the PNP is waning.

‘Name Game’

On the subject of political maturity, it is a good sign that there are not two Matthew Samudas nominated in the St Ann North Eastern by-election set for September 30, 2024.

Recall, “In 1978 in Jamaica there was a by-election in Western St Andrew following the resignation of David Coore. Dudley Thompson was the PNP candidate. Officially, the JLP did not contest the by-election. On nomination day, some seven men and women, all with the surname of Thompson, showed up to be nominated. Only one person (not Dudley Thompson) was nominated.” (Jamaica Observer, December 14, 2011)

Consider this too: “Political historian Troy Caine told The Gleaner that, in 1949, two persons with the surname Morris were nominated to contest the election in South East St James.” (December 14, 2011)

There is strong evidence that Jamaica inherited the ‘name game’ political strategy from Britain. Consider this: “What a good thing that candidates have a symbol as well as their names on the ballots. One recalls the general election in Great Britain in 1970 when several people by the name of Edward Heath were nominated. Edward Heath was then leader of the British Conservative Party and he was elected prime minister of that country on June 18 that year.” ( Jamaica Observer, December 14, 2011))

While the name game distraction does add some amount of fun and intrigue to the election process, I think its usefulness/effectiveness has waned substantially, especially over the last decade or so.

I believe the electorate, in general, has grown much more discerning. This electoral advance, I believe, is strongly related to the pervasiveness of Internet access. At the touch of a button people in the nook and crannies can be warned about imposters on the loose, who are nominated to cause confusion.

What might be described as a nuanced approach is in vogue, wherein an individual(s) are sanctioned as ‘Independents’ in seats which parties consider that they are unlikely to win. Some will doubtless say this is irresponsible and very wrong.

Heat and Light

On the subject of that which is right, ‘Personal responsibility matters’, the subject of my piece three Sundays ago, seems to have ruffled some feathers. This is a good thing.

To sometimes cause heat, but more often to generate light, that is the purpose of my columns.

Some readers have argued that I put too much of the weight of personal responsibility on the ordinary person. They say I need to also needle the real culprit of personal dependency in Jamaica — the political directorate. Even a cursory search of my articles in Observer archives and/on Google will show that, I have done so previously.

For example, I noted here among other things, on August 21, 2021, “No State can or will ever be effective in the role of a superman.

“National leaders who have tried to be all things to all men are discarded on the scrap heap of history, and those who are still foolishly attempting to walk on water and turn water into wine are now on political life support.

“I have noted in this space before, but it bears repeating, the State exists to do for its citizens what the citizens cannot effectively and efficiently, individually, do for him/herself.

“The activist State is not a socialist or a communist utopia, where manner falls from the sky while folks sip milk and honey.” I also noted, “Our leaders, for starters, need to stop pontificating that they are the political equivalent of Santa Claus. Individual responsibility must be a national agenda item, not a marginal note in our national text.”

I have consistently advocated these views.

We have to come to grips with certain crucial and modern realities; otherwise, Jamaica will continue to massively underachieve in several critical national areas.

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.