THIS country is never short on political drama. It’s a feature of our cherished democracy that can either inspire hope or fill us with despair.

Unfortunately, the latter was the case with two incidents last week. First was the appearance by former incarcerated dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel on the stage of the public session of the People’s National Party’s (PNP) 86th Annual Conference. Second was Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s response in Parliament to the Integrity Commission’s investigation report into his statutory declarations.

We would not be surprised to learn that PNP President Mr Mark Golding did not sanction that total fiasco at the conference last Sunday. It smacks of poor judgement to parade on the stage of a political party seeking to become Government a man who spent 13 years in prison on a murder conviction, before the Privy Council in the United Kingdom overturned that conviction on a technicality.

To summarise, the apex court ruled that the convictions of Vybz Kartel and his co-accused should be quashed on the grounds of juror misconduct, and that the case should be remitted to Jamaica’s Court of Appeal to decide whether to order a retrial of the appellants for the murder of Mr Clive “Lizard” Williams.

The fact that the judge in the murder trial did not discharge the jury after it came to his notice that one of the jurors had attempted to bribe the pool was enough to influence the Privy Council ruling. The British law lords gave no consideration to the evidence presented in the case.

What has also rubbed sensible, law-abiding Jamaicans the wrong way have been shameless attempts by senior PNP members to justify or explain Vybz Kartel’s presence on stage.

Claims by some, including party Chair Mrs Angela Brown Burke, that he was among “a couple of persons” who took the stage with Mr Isat Buchanan when he addressed the conference are simply balderdash. The fact is that a few hours before the conference started media were alerted that the artiste would make a stage appearance.

The cold, hard fact is that the PNP is using Vybz Kartel’s popularity among the masses to attract votes. It may work with younger Jamaicans, who regard him a cult hero, but disgust many older Jamaicans who are now questioning the party’s values.

Two days after that débâcle, Prime Minister Holness took the spotlight with his personal statement in the House following the tabling of the Integrity Commission report on his statutory declarations for 2019-2022.

Mr Holness, like all other individuals who feel they have been wronged, has a right to state his case, especially given the report’s damaging effect.

He has already rejected aspects of the report as well as a claim by the commission that he hindered examination of his declarations by not supplying information requested. We expect that he will speak further in short order. However, we were disappointed that Mr Holness saw it fit to recommend that the law governing the Integrity Commission be reviewed to prevent the entity from being politicised.

While he avoided accusing the commission of political bias, the optics of him, as prime minister, getting into a quarrel with the entity because he is the subject of its report is unbecoming and should have been avoided at all costs.

He should let the matter play out and allow his name to be cleared.