Can't the PNP and JLP just go away?
Most people (67%) did not bother to vote. Most Jamaicans are fed up with both parties but those few who did vote, chose not to change the captain and the crew in the middle of a pandemic. More about political apathy in a bit.
There is no law that says that any political party must live forever. I was once a founding member of a political party in Canada which merged with another to become one of the current opposition parties. Political parties can die, be dissolved or merge with other parties. The PNP's ideology of Democratic Socialism is now obsolete and irrelevant. The time for 'ideologies' is also past. The PNP, like the JLP remains linked to garrisons. The PNP has served its purpose. It is time for the PNP to die. Only 8% of the population voted for the PNP. They should be the first to disband. Those few remaining PNP MPs should just cross the floor and join the JLP to form a Government of National Unity to deal with the virus crisis. Then the JLP would be disbanded. I have never been a fan of 'the government needs an opposition' theory because it depends on the quality of the government and the opposition. What we now have in Jamaica is the opposite of good governance. Bruce Golding lamented the fact that he wanted to bring in fixed election dates and to remove the Queen as Head of State but he was stymied by the opposition. Opposition parties in Jamaica 'oppose, oppose, oppose' just for the sake of opposing. The national interest gets lost in the shuffle we call politics.
There is no 'threat to democracy caused by voter apathy'. The choice not to vote is a free, democratic choice too - a choice to let those who do vote decide on your leadership. Most Jamaicans just don't care anymore. Most young people just want to emigrate - they are ready to pull up stakes. When you no longer feel you have a stake in your country, you will just not care. When I see the flotsam and jetsam on display in Jamaican politics, I cringe. When I see what Norman Manley's party has become, I want to cry. The PNP should not have contested the elections. They could have taken the high ground and said 'not during the pandemic'. Instead, salivating at the chance for power, they leapt forward - into the abyss. Phillips especially, knowing his life is in its sunset, was particularly desperate and his lackeys around him kept enabling him. Our political establishment is so crappy that when I urge Jamaicans to vote, they ask me 'What for?' Most of the Jamaican people have resigned themselves to poor governance forever. It has been going on for so long. When most people no longer care, the corrupt can go wild - and they have. There is no threat to 'democracy' by voter apathy. What voter apathy threatens is quality governance. What voter apathy threatens is the JLP and the PNP. What voter apathy is telling the JLP and the PNP is that we do not want them anymore. The JLP and the PNP need to listen to those voters. This is why I have been calling on civil society to force the government to come to a temporary consensus with the opposition as to how to deal with the virus crisis. So far, the JLP government has been going it alone. With the weakened leaderless opposition, now is an ideal time to include the opposition in a temporary Government of National Unity to deal with the virus crisis.
If I had my way, no party could rule Jamaica without the support of the majority of the electorate. This should be in the constitution. Those not voting, being the majority are quietly saying they want both the JLP and the PNP to go away. They want a new choice. They will never get the chance of a new choice because of the hogging of the political establishment by the JLP and the PNP. Some would say, start your own party. Starting a new party under the current rules is such a massive, expensive undertaking, that is not a real choice. However, if both parties admit failure and get out of the way, there would be room for other parties. We also need fixed election dates and proportional representation. Partisan politics should be outlawed like it is in the Canadian north.
As a voice crying in the wilderness here in the diaspora, I want to tell the government that we in the diaspora have a stake in Jamaica. We do care. We send the most foreign exchange that Jamaica receives. We have loved ones, homes and businesses in Jamaica. Yet, we remain marginalized and disenfranchised. Give us a chance to participate in our nation's affairs. Give us the vote.
Raymond D. Grant
Canada Cell: (867) 445 - 2865
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