The Way Forward for Jamaica - A Government of National Unity

The PNP now faces a choice of who is to be their new leader. The JLP now also faces a choice. The JLP with its vast majority in the House can choose to become very authoritarian and more corrupt. When Mr. Seaga’s government was placed in a similar predicament by the refusal of the PNP government to contest a previous election, he did not make the constitutional and legal changes necessary but he did not become a dictatorship. While he did not make real change, Seaga did attempt to make parliament more inclusive by appointing people from civil society to the Senate.

 Now that the JLP gave the PNP the shellacking they deserved for their desperate pie in the sky promises, now that the election is out of the way, we can move forward – or further backward. The Jamaican electorate has matured. Despite many being homeless or living in substandard housing, despite many needing the ‘goodies’ offered by the PNP, the Jamaican electorate has rejected the fanciful offers of the PNP. The Jamaican electorate has taken a stand against clientelism. Now that the PNP is defeated and leaderless, we can move forward to a Government of National Unity to navigate through the social and economic tsunami caused by the virus crisis.

 Now is the time for the JLP to tear up its watered-down version of the PNP Manifesto – it aint gonna happen. Now is not a time for the JLP to gloat. Now is not the time to celebrate. Now is not the time to exclude the opposition – they still represent a significant number of Jamaicans. Now is the time to call for all hands on deck. Now that the PNP is defeated and leaderless, the government has the opportunity to embrace and include the PNP members in a government of national unity to fight the health, social and economic wars against the virus and the other problems that the virus has exacerbated:

  1. Corruption, nepotism, cronyism in government.
  2. Our gang based crime problem. Dismantle garrisons.
  3. Full legalization of ganja.
  4. The need for a diversification of our economy currently based mostly on only two types of tourism - short stays and cruises.
  5. Including the diaspora in national affairs including the right to vote.
  6. A ramshackle public health system.
  7. An inefficient educational system.
  8. A ramshackle, unjust and inefficient justice system.
  9. A corrupt, inefficient, underpaid, undermanned police force.
  10. The need for constitutional reform e.g. Removal of the Queen as Head of State, removal of the Privy Council as our highest court, fixed election dates, change of our first past the post system, maybe moving to a republican type of state. 

There are others but these are the top 10 that need urgent attention and about which there will be little or no disagreement. When the US and Britain faced the Nazi threat, both sides of their Houses of Representatives united to fight the threat posed to them by the fascists. In a similar way, we need to unite against this virus crisis. Most Jamaicans who voted, united under Mr. Holness to give him this massive mandate. Now that Mr. Holness has this mandate, if he fails, what is going to be his excuse?

 This Government of National Unity does not necessarily have to become a permanent feature of our politics. We can always go back to our tribal ways after we navigate through the social and economic tsunami caused by Covid 19. Left to the JLP alone, left to the politicians alone however, a Government of National Unity will never happen. I call upon civil society, the private sector, the small business association, the trade unions, the churches, the diaspora, the army, the police organizations, everyone, to come together in this effort to force the government now to form a Government of National Unity with a focus towards getting us through the virus crisis to a new, stronger, better Jamaica with less crime, less corruption, less nepotism, less cronyism. The Holness team now has the vast majority they need to make the necessary constitutional and legislative changes for Jamaica to become a place where we will want to live, work, raise families and do business as outlined in Vision 2030. Are they up to the job? Will Mr. Holness be our Winston Churchill? For our sake, I hope so.

 Raymond D. Grant

Canada Cell: (867) 445 - 2865

Email: refugeesandimmigrantsinexile@gmail.com

Website: https://xile.godaddysites.com

 

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