A Voice Crying the Wilderness of the Diaspora
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20200909/money-drop-kingston-central-residents-admit-vote-buying
Jamaicans, we need to get rid of the PNP - and the JLP. This is not working for us. The only people benefiting from the current system are the members of the political establishment, their relatives and their cronies in the private sector. Then election time, the politicians come around to us with money wrapped in T shirts? The people of Allman Town and Tel-Aviv became fed up with the PNP so they switched black dawg fi monkey. Wait ten years and when there is still no development, what do they do then? Switch back? This is getting ridiculous. Time to find a new way to govern ourselves.
At the risk of being labelled 'a Comrade' I am going to make a prediction: Now that the JLP has almost absolute power, they are going to become absolutely, even more corrupt. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I had one PNP Councillor respond to my blogs by saying 'she will always be a PNP' because at an occasion in the past, Peter Phillips helped her daughter with money to study in England. Whether this money came from his own pocket or his Constituency Development Fund was not mentioned. So, because Peter Phillips was kind and generous to her daughter, that qualifies him to be Prime Minister of Jamaica? Gimmie a Break! I and many others in and outside of the diaspora have helped children and young people to go to school. Does that qualify us to be Prime Minister? This Councillor is an example of the quality of our political leadership. While I understand this Councillor's gratefulness, this is the kind of Clientelism that Jamaica does not need. This is the kind of political leadership Jamaica has and does not need. What about the hordes of those Dr. Phillips or other MPs can't help personally? What about the majority of us, the rest of us?
As the REV FR DONALD CHAMBERS, General Secretary, Antilles Episcopal Conference said in his Letter to The Gleaner Editor, day before yday: '..there is ... significant cause for consideration. There are many Jamaicans who did not participate (in the elections) ... for fear of the virus ... apathy, frustrations ... . ” The Rev Father went on to write and I quote:
'If the total number of voters was 1,913,410 and the Jamaica Labour Party received 406,764 votes, which translates to a little over 21 per cent of the voters, then from this perspective it was not a landslide victory.' In other words, the vast majority of us Jamaicans do not support the current JLP/PNP political establishment. This is not counting all of us in the diaspora who have fled the damn stinkin, sinkin ship. Why do we not participate? Because the system sucks! It has sucked for a long time....
The greatest challenge facing Jamaica is building a climate-resilient and epidemiologically (sic) resilient nation.
(The government should) 'Seek greater consultation with civil society and bi-partisan political support in building a resilient nation.
Curb wastage and corruption in the public sector by identifying and appointing persons with skills, competences, and moral ethics.'
For the People’s National Party, they should consider the following: Why would less than 18 per cent of the 1,913,410 electorates cast their vote for the party? Simply conducting a forensic audit as to the reasons for the loss of the election is inadequate. Political parties need to realize that their existence is not only to win elections, but also to build trust among the electorate in their ability to govern.
The strength of an Opposition party in the Parliament depends not on numbers, but on the Opposition’s ability, not simply to oppose, but to offer viable options, and to challenge the Government to be transparent and accountable. But this role has absolutely no credibility unless these traits are demonstrated by the party itself. (My emphasis).
A Ms Chin wrote on Sept 5th: 'The PNP must use the loss to review and reorganize. More now than ever, they are needed as a strong opposition. A democracy is at risk when one party is the dominant force in Parliament. Andrew Holness should accept victory with humility and not use this in any way to advance autocracy and arrogance, attributes that he is sometimes accused of.'
I refer you to the Letter of the Day by P. Haye. http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/letters/20200909/letter-day-abolish-westminster-system
There is obviously a search for a new way to do our politics in Jamaica. With all due respect to Ms Chin, our democracy has been not just now at risk but it has been a sorry mess for a long time. Our country is in a sorry mess because of the quality of both parties making up our political establishment. Having those two parties has not benefited Jamaica. Those parties are guilty of mashing up Jamaica and the only reason why we are not a completely failed state is because of remittances from us in the diaspora. One party being the 'dominant force' can be a good thing if that dominance is in the direction of the public good. What matters is the quality of that 'dominant force'.
With all due respect to the good Father and Ms Chin, I think we need to go further than that. The PNP as it stands now, is not a viable party. The best thing they could do for Jamaica is to disband to create the political space needed for real change. The current political establishment is too invested and too embedded in their current ways so they won't change - voluntarily anyway. We need to do something very different. We need a Government of National Unity, a movement for a National Reconciliation made up of all sectors of society - including the disenfranchised diaspora. Let's get together and do this. Don't set up a political party. Force the existing establishment to change the rules against us, the constitution, the laws - or force them out. Who is going to lead this charge? The private sector and the diaspora have the money. Stop funding and supporting the current political establishment until they do what the majority of us want them to do. Let's go and do this. This could be temporary while we wean ourselves off of our tribal addiction. If I had my way, both parties would be disbanded even declared and outlawed as Terrorist organizations and all their so-called 'die hearted' members would be banned from ever holding any political office ever again. Let's clear the decks and start from scratch. That would create the political space for a new beginning - or a new disaster but at least it would be new not the current same old, same ole. Everything has risk/benefit ratios. Almost anything would be better than the current disaster we have. Done carefully, this can happen and be of benefit to our country. Only 30 odd percent of our people support the current crap and that support is dwindling. If Apartheid could fall, all things are possible. The alternative is that most will continue to want to leave and join us in the marginalized diaspora. That is not acceptable. It is our country too.
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