I plead insanity for having believed the hype on Sunday last that despite the bruising leadership challenge to Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Andrew Holness, he would have been willing to be magnanimous in victory.
I guess I was just hoping against hope.
Instead, Holness moved swiftly to get rid of those who did not support his leadership, reappointing only Bartlett and Shaw as showpieces to the new shadow cabinet.
What would have been magnanimous and sensible would have been for him to have reappointed everyone from the original shadow cabinet en bloc then over a period remove the non performers, as they have always outnumbered the performers. Instead he jumped straight into stark victimization.
Plus what possible reason can there be for wanting the senate to resign for nothing has changed over the 2 years since Holness appointed those senators except that some did not support him ion his leadership challenge. His calling for their resignation therefore has nothing to do with their performance or usefulness to the country but pure pettiness.
I therefore applaud Mr. Shaw for putting his own political future on the line and standing up with those who supported him who are threatened with victimization, none more obvious than the two deputy leaders who came out in support of him but whose nomination papers mysteriously disappeared few days before the election.
And if Holness really wanted to unify the party as he claimed , what of the fate of the lady Councillor who was evicted from Samuda's office for supporting Shaw and the one whose future in politics was threatened by Warmington?
It is perfectly clear that while democracy prevailed on Sunday, it is really vindictiveness and divisiveness which is the final victor.
I guess I was just hoping against hope.
Instead, Holness moved swiftly to get rid of those who did not support his leadership, reappointing only Bartlett and Shaw as showpieces to the new shadow cabinet.
What would have been magnanimous and sensible would have been for him to have reappointed everyone from the original shadow cabinet en bloc then over a period remove the non performers, as they have always outnumbered the performers. Instead he jumped straight into stark victimization.
Plus what possible reason can there be for wanting the senate to resign for nothing has changed over the 2 years since Holness appointed those senators except that some did not support him ion his leadership challenge. His calling for their resignation therefore has nothing to do with their performance or usefulness to the country but pure pettiness.
I therefore applaud Mr. Shaw for putting his own political future on the line and standing up with those who supported him who are threatened with victimization, none more obvious than the two deputy leaders who came out in support of him but whose nomination papers mysteriously disappeared few days before the election.
And if Holness really wanted to unify the party as he claimed , what of the fate of the lady Councillor who was evicted from Samuda's office for supporting Shaw and the one whose future in politics was threatened by Warmington?
It is perfectly clear that while democracy prevailed on Sunday, it is really vindictiveness and divisiveness which is the final victor.
1 comment:
Andrew is by far the lesser evil of the two teams. He has been the more-balanced by far throughout and had outstretched his hand for unity. It is absolutely normal in politics that you have to have trusted people nearest to you.
Look at how Team Audley has been behaving, motivated by vengeance, badmindedness and disunity and refusing party positions. Tufton who doesn't even have a seat was clearly being manipulated by the big boys in Team Audley. They are of no help to the party and are so poisoned they cant see that they are assassinating their credibility. The even walked out in the middle of parliament and should be censured for such gross disrespect. It reminds me of Vaz's speech to the nation before the 2011 election, saying that he would be firing all PNP from govt jobs after they win the election. This high-handedness doesn't work with the electorate and I have never heard the PNP with any such venom. Team Andrew's win was a triumph of good over a return to brash uncaring politics . . . and by a convincing margin.
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