Jamaica's general election

Jamaica has a lot to be proud of and among the many, is how we remain committed to upholding our strict democratic traditions.

Regarding the general election yesterday, I don't think the most optimistic JLP supporter or the most pessimistic PNP supporter could have expected the results which reflected such a total rejection of the opposition PNP. (49 seats to the JLP and 14 to the PNP). 

Oh yes, Jamaica has had these kinds of results before. For in 1980 it was 51 to 9 JLP voter turnout 86.9%;  1989 45 to 15  PNP voter turnout 78.4%; 1993 PNP 52 to  8 turnout 67%. (Of course, I didn't mention 1983 as that was uncontested). The difference though is that whereas in the previous elections, registered voters turned out in their numbers, yesterday the turnout was a dismal 37%. 

Yes having an election during the corona plague was a challenge but I agreed with the prime minister for not postponing the event because of that disease, as we have to learn to live with it. Maybe a significant number of persons stayed away because they feared getting contaminated but we will never know the extent to which it affected the turnout.

However,  it is not good that 63% of the electorate refused to participate in electing their government.

While I totally agree with the electorate giving Andrew Holness a second term as he has done fairly well as the country's leader, I don't like minority governments or weak oppositions.

One of the greatest problems affecting our country is the prevalence of corruption in our government. 

This was raised during the campaign but the PNP had no moral authority to do so, as they were just  just as corrupt. On the other hand, their leaders have never even tried to deal with the corrupt people in their party. While Holness at least separated some corrupt politicians from their jobs and allowed some investigation, the PNP used the Trump/ Putin strategy.....deny deny and depend on the base to loudly back them up. Further, as long as the stain of Trafigura remains unresolved, the PNP cannot speak about corruption. That is so sad for the country. 

The PNP's main problem leading up to this election was the issue of disunity in the party. I dare say too that the shabby manner in which they treated their former leader, the much loved Portia Simpson-Miller has not gone down well with their base. That I think too was behind Mrs. Simpson-Miller's silence during the campaign and her staying away physically.

But its time to look head,

 As promised by Peter Phillips, the PNP leader, if his party lost he would resign. He did so this leaves his party in a bit of a dilemma for the heir apparent was Peter Bunting and he lost his seat to a newcomer. Of course, the party could go the route of appointing Bunting as party leader and nominating someone who won their seat as, leader of the Opposition in the interim, but I don't think that would be a popular option.

Of the names, I hear being bandied around as possible successors to Phillips are Mark Golding, Phillip Paulwell, Lisa Hanna, Julian Robinson. Of that lot, I think Lisa Hanna would be the best bet but she has an urgent task ahead of her to rebuild her constituency, as in what had always been a solid PNP constituency, she barely won by 14 votes.

If Lisa becomes the PNP leader, the PNP would have a solid record of being an equal opportunity party as she would be the 2nd female leader while the JLP has yet to have one. I am watching that party with great interest for there were 14 brand new ladies elected to parliament under the JLP ticket, so how the cabinet is structured will tell us a lot.  As will their appointments to the senate.

There will be interesting times ahead but I really hope the PNP unifies quickly and becomes an effective opposition as nothing is worse for a country than a government with unchallenged power.

In the meantime, the most urgent task will be to get this damn virus under control, for there had been a spike before and during the campaign, and with the lack of due care during the campaign, I am sure there will be even greater contamination.

Erasing the corruption stain

Over the weekend Gary Spaulding had an interesting article entitled Erasing the corruption stain in which he outlined the task that Burchell Whiteman and others have in trying to clean up the PNP's tarnished image.

I hail this thrust by the PNP for the reality of Jamaican politics is that its either they or the JLP that will form the government and the JLP having lost all moral authority, they recognise that the apple is within their grasp.

Apparently too, they seem to understand that in order not to be swept to power only by their tribalists and thus having to face a very rocky road to get support or consensus from the rest of us, they must give the thinking public a reason to trust them, hence this sudden interest in integrity and weeding out corruption.

However, if this new body is not to be only a face card, before they even do anything else, they must demand answers to the Trafigura affair and share those answers with the public. For in the same way that the public will not be appeased until all is told about Mannat, Phelps & Phillips , neither will they be until all the gory details about the underhand deal with Trafigura are told. For while it is well known that Trafigura gave the PNP $30 million and were given a contract that the then ruling party would do something for them, what we can't find out is exactly what was promised to them. Was it that they would be allowed to dump their toxic waste in Jamaica? Was it that the contract to pull Nigerian oil would be renewed without competitive tender? Or did it have something to do with the destruction of the cockpit country in an effort to find more bauxite?

These both international scandals in which the ruling parties which formed the government at the time have been involved have only reinforced in the eyes of the world, the perception that Jamaica is nothing but a corrupt banana republic.

Also, if this integrity body is to be credible, they must do a better job than previous bodies in selecting who will be allowed to represent the party in an election. For since the 2007 election, the police has been showing great interest in two of their candidates for involvement in gangs. What would have happened had these two candidates been elected to parliament6 to make laws to affect the rest of us? This matter simply cannot be swept under the table.

Then there is the issue of MP Sharon Hay Webster brazenly remaining in parliament while admitting to being a dual citizen, a direct breach of the constitution.

What is this integrity committee going to do about this grave breach and insult to the integrity of Parliament?

Unless this commission is really serious about dealing with such issues, it will turn out to be nothing but a face card and once again voters will be left with a choice between a corrupt black dog and a corrupt monkey.

DO THEY DESERVE A PENSION?

According to a recent report in the Jamaica Observer, a number of former politicians are living in virtual poverty as sickness and poor pensions make it impossible for them to meet their very basic obligations. 

 If that article was meant to cause us to feel sorry for our politicians, it hasn’t. For the simple fact is, we have too many reasons not to think very highly of politicians. The first has to do with their actions over the many of our indsependence, which have contributed to Jamaica becoming a murder capital in the world, if not the first in terms of the per capita murders committed, certainly among the top three. 

This is a direct spin-off from the actions of those politicians who in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and probably to some extent even now, armed poor, uneducated, inner city young men with guns to kill and intimidate their political opponents. Naturally, we have concluded that if politicians are willing to commit murder and arson and indeed ANYTHING (as the chairman of the Peoples National Party (PNP) said) to gain power, then the prize must indeed be great. 

The ANYTHING was again demonstrated recently with what has come to be known as the dual-citizenship issue. The amazing thing about Jamaican politicians also is their brazenness. This was so crassly demonstrated in parliament last week by Jamaica’s first female prime and current Leader do the Opposition Portia Simpson Miller. According to reports, Ms. Miller went to Parliament and declared "I have said to the country over and over that this side will not take power unless it is by way of the ballot.” This statement was made in reply to the Prime Minister’s accusation that the PNP was taking Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members to court to try and get seats in parliament on the basis that some of those elected had dual citizenships with countries not allowed under the Constitution. (The strange thing is that while the PNP is challenging the illegibility of some JLP MP’s, they too have at least two members of parliament on their benches who would be disqualified on the same grounds!) However, while denying that the PNP was using the courts to foist person’s rejected by electors on them, Mrs. Simpson told a blatant lie. For that is what the case by the PNP via Abe Dabdoud had been all about.

 For readers will recall that in the first instance, the Chief Justice had ruled that Vaz was ineligible based on his dual citizenship but the seat should not be automatically turned over to the PNP but a by-election should be called. DABDOUD THEN WENT TO THE COURT OF APPEAL CONTENDING THAT THE SEAT SHOULD BE AWARDED TO HIM (THE PNP ) WITHOUT A BY-ELECTION!

How then could less than a week after the by-election, a big “Christian”, a former prime minister and current Leader Of the Opposition, have the gall to declare in parliament, "I have said to the country over and over that this side will not take power unless it is by way of the ballot?” I suppose I am being naive in expecting better since at her inauguration Portia said she would work to eliminate corruption, but less than 2 years later the party that she leads accepted $30 million from Trafigura, a company which was trying to have its contract renewed to lift oil from Nigeria, without being able to give a plausible explanation why Trafigura gave their party the $30 million in the period leading up to the general election of 2007!)

 Anyway we do not only get bad impressions about our politicians from how we see them operate as a lot of what happens in Jamaican politics is done under cover. However,their own colleagues fill the gaps, for when you listen to things they say on and off the platforms about their opponents, you would not be incorrect in concluding that there is no such thing as a decent Jamaican politician! Importantly too, it is because of the devious, corrupt and incompetent activities of our politicians why this well endowed paradise has become one of the most impoverished nations in the former West Indies, only being outdone by Guyana. Yes, I guess there have been honest, hardworking decent politicians. The problem is, we have no way of knowing which of the politicians that have actually been in office over the years were “decent" for the legacy they have left us since independence is so rotten. So forgive me if I can’t feel sorry for politicians and am even cynical about the report that some are living in poverty. In fact, in my mind,the real question is, do they deserve a pension at all?