I was reading this article in the Jamaica Observer and I swear, certain people in our Jamaican society (READ: certain constituencies on
both sides of the political divide) are masochists! They vote the same
way for years despite the same 'nothing' going on for these same years. Is it that
they misunderstand the importance of exercising their democratic right
in achieving their own 'greater good'?
I sincerely hope that with
this significant increase in the number of youths that have registered
to vote as per the May 31 voter's list that there will be an increase in scrutiny of what is being done
and put forward by the political parties in Jamaica. Though some may argue that
the type of government we have does not suit us, it is what we have and we
may as well work with it. I hope this new interest, whether a 'flash in
the pan' or not will bring about a new drive by Jamaicans to do away
with voting for a party because of tradition and start something unheard
of in Jamaica - voting for better! The old uneducated fools who have
been responsible for leading Jamaica down a path of destruction for 18
unbroken years and then some need to be removed, there is still hope for
Jamaica - men (and women) like Davies are on their way out, Roger Clarke is gone, A.J. Nicholson 'cut', Portia Simpson-Miller, as we say in Jamaica 'a gyaap', there seems to be a cry for 're-imagination and
re-birth' in the People's National Party (PNP) and that is long overdue and welcome.
I am not in a position to fairly judge those members of the Jamaica
Labour Party as frankly, I have not seen much of them in leadership of
the country. I do remember as a very young child under an Edward Seaga
led Jamaica being given a wet $2 note by one of the workers on the farm
that I grew up as change for my mother who had asked him to purchase
batteries for a flashlight and that worker being verbally reprimanded by
another worker for giving me 'so much money' lest I lose it. Bread was
cheap, milk was cheap, corned beef and tin mackerel were also cheap.
Crime wasn't so bad, the dollar was doing OK for itself and there was
not so much lawlessness in Jamaica. Fast forward couple years to the
beginning of a Bruce Golding led JLP government. A country inherited
from 18 years of PNP 'leadership' debt is sky-high, crime and violence
increased, bad roads, worse economy and a beaten and battered Jamaican
dollar among many other ills, especially those in our Society. I was
fairly pleased with that rather short JLP administration's achievements
in comparison to the PNP's 18 years and it is against that backdrop that
I am able to make a comparison.
Let's hope this cry for not 'better' but actual 'leadership' is not merely being championed by those with self-serving aspirations but is being done by people who genuinely want to see better for their party second and their country above all. The likes of Peter Bunting, Lisa Hanna and Julian Robinson all seem attractive to Jamaica against the likes of what previously obtained in that of those mentioned in the previous paragraph and also of Robert Pickersgill, Peter Phillips and and the 'youthfully exuberant' Phillip Paulwell who has not done too well for himself since his much heralded entry into Political representation. Let's hope Jamaica stands to benefit from the boat-rocking.
Anyway, the
direction I see Andrew Holness taking the country is promising, is it that
we will see new governance and leadership in Jamaica or is it the
proverbial 'bamboo fire' that just blazes up to die down as quickly as
it started?
