After the gas riots: remarkable victory

Devon Dick

THE DAY after the PNP's victory at the polls, the title for this article came to me because normally, riots were a harbinger of imminent failure at the polls for the governing party.

Rebellions and riots in the history of Jamaica have an interesting tale of woe for governing parties. After the Walter Rodney Riots of 1968, the Hugh Lawson Shearer government fell in 1972. After the Gas Riots of 1979, the Michael Manley administration fell in 1980. After the Gas Riots of 1985, the Edward Seaga government fell in 1989. PJ Patterson's government is the only administration that has won a general election after a riot.

If one goes further in history the picture is the same. After the 1865 Morant Bay Rebel-lion, which the late Professor Douglas Hall labelled as a "riot', Governor Edward Eyre was recalled to England and tried for murder. Not only did Eyre fall but also the Old Representative System, which was replaced by Crown Colony Government under the enlightened leadership of Sir John Grant.

After the 1938 Frome Riots, the government structure was changed for good when in 1944, Jamaica gained Univer-sal Adult Suffrage ­ before the USA. Jamaica was granted a new Constitution, which meant that each adult of 21 years or over was given the right to vote for his or her representatives, irrespective of gender, race or financial status. This was the beginning of internal self-rule.

The Most Hon. P.J. Patter-son has achieved the hitherto impossible ­ surviving a riot. He had made history in being the first political leader to break the two-term syndrome in 1997; the first leader to win three consecutive general elections (1993, 1997 and 2002); the first politician to take the oath of office as Prime Minister for four consecutive times. What manner of man is this?

The virtue of the Prime Minister is that he listens and has a non-confrontational style. Having listened, he analyses and takes action. After the gas riots, the Prime Minister took it as a wake-up call. I still remember the meeting called by the Prime Minister with church leaders in the aftermath of the gas riots. The Prime Minister looked deeply concerned. The Hon. Bobby Pickersgill appeared nervous.

I was asked by the then president of the Jamaica Baptist Union, the Rev. Jeffrey McKenzie, to be part of the delegation along with Dr. Burchell Taylor and the Rev. Peter Harding. Many other church leaders were present including Bishop Neville DeSouza, Pastors Al Miller, David Keane and Dr. Peter Morgan. The discussions with the PM were candid. We outlined what we saw as the problems and offered some solutions. Nevertheless, it was expected that it would have been a free fall for the P.J. Patterson administration.

The December 2001 defeat in the St. Ann North Eastern constituency would have been a confirmation of that trend. How the JLP lost the general election 10 months later is a miracle. Edward Seaga, a student of history, would know about the nexus between riots and the results of general elections and perhaps that is why he said God would have to be asleep for him to lose. Sadly, it appears that the JLP went to sleep instead of being alert. On the other hand, the PM did not blame anyone but tried to re-connect with the people, by sending two able lieutenants to the pasture to labour.

During the campaign, he re-connected with people by countering the JLP's Free Education, which was gaining traction, by declaring that free tuition at the secondary level would be a reality by 2005. He has a grasp of the history of the people and understands the aspirations of the people. He fast-forwarded his land ownership schemes. He understands the role of infrastrutural development to economic development and its employment potential. He understands the importance of our history and the psyche of the Jamaican people and followed the re-introduction of Emancipation Day by building a beautiful Emancipation Park.

He continues to score big by pledging allegiance to the Constitution of Jamaica and to the people of Jamaica rather than to the Queen and her heirs and successors. In spite of these achievements, P.J. Patterson has been aided and abetted by the JLP under the leadership of the Most Hon. Edward Seaga. Since Independence, Seaga is the only JLP leader who has suffered so many electoral defeats and remained at the helm. This is an awful precedent and a legacy that he will regret.

The Most Hon. Hugh Shearer lost one general election and that was it. Under the leadership of Edward Seaga, the party led in the polls for a year preceding the elections and then lost. He did it against Manley and he has done it again with Patterson. Edward Seaga and the JLP have not listened enough to the people outside of Belmont Road; they have not understood the people adequately and hence continue to be in the political wilderness. They have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

A different opponent to Patterson might have done better. Mike Henry, with limited financial support and without the support of the party leader was able to run the last local government campaign and had the best result for opposition JLP party. Nevertheless, one cannot blame a victor for the quality of the opponent but credit must be given to the Prime Minister for being the first to survive a riot and go on and claim a remarkable victory in a general election.

Back to Commentary