By Don Robotham, ContributorIF MR. Seaga did not exist, the PNP would have to invent him. If by chance you had forgotten why you did not vote in the general election, or voted for the JLP or PNP with a heavy heart, Mr. Seaga's announcement of his plan to "bring down the government" and to "oppose, oppose, oppose," would have forcefully reminded you.
Last week, the Minister of Finance was heard proclaiming political expediency as the governing principle of public finance and politics. He was followed swiftly by the Prime Minister defending this conduct. But out-doing them all came Mr. Seaga with his hysterical statement breathing fire and brimstone on the duly elected Government of the country. If Dr. Davies' tendency is to shoot himself in the foot, Mr. Seaga's inclination is to shoot himself in the head.
Mr. Seaga's statement exceeded anything which Omar Davies or PJ Patterson in their worst moments could have dreamt up. They are guilty of expediency and, in Mr. Patterson's case, fantasising about the importance of a non-existent Non-Aligned Movement. What Mr. Seaga did, however, was on an altogether different plane. His statement struck at the very foundations of the democratic rights of the Jamaican people.
It will be most interesting to see if those organisations who hotly demanded the resignation of the Minister of Finance and, indeed, the entire Government, will issue equally forceful calls for Mr. Seaga's resignation as Leader of the Opposition. I am referring to the Farquharson Institute and Jamaicans for Justice, in case you may be wondering. Or will they simply mumble-mumble in some mealy-mouthed and hypocritical way "deploring" Mr. Seaga's statement as "unfortunate". Time will tell.
Whether one likes Omar Davies or P.J. Patterson or not, the fact is that they and not Mr. Seaga were elected to be the Government by the people of Jamaica. For some time now it has been quite apparent that Mr. Seaga found this galling, as well he might. After all, this was his seventh straight electoral defeat. The clearest sign of this inner gall was Mr. Seaga's failure to formally concede his election loss. Many dismissed this at the time as a formality of little significance just the usual ungraciousness. I regarded it as a sign of things to come. Now these "things" have come. He still has not formally conceded defeat.
Instead, Mr. Seaga wants another election now, right now as you read this article. And if he loses again, which he will, he will demand yet another election. And then another election. And so on and so forth. Permanent elections. No peace in the land. Chaos and confusion. Spare Jamaica and yourself the agony, Mr. Seaga. Retire into private life and use the time to address your considerable business problems. Don't ask me how. Somehow!
It is now clear that Jamaica needs a new Leader of the Opposition, even more urgently than it needs an accountable and responsible Government. It is crystal clear that "bringing down" Mr. Seaga from the leadership of the JLP is an urgent task facing the country. If we want "constitutional reform", it is the JLP constitution which is crying out for reform. How can we help the healthy forces in the JLP to "oppose, oppose and oppose" this nonsense? How can we restore responsible leadership to the JLP? How can we remove the duct tape used to seal the lips of Bruce Golding? What can be done to release Bruce from the vow of silence which has been skilfully and ruthlessly imposed on him by you-know-who? How can we get Mr. Seaga censured? Maybe there is some provision in the constitution which allows the Governor-General to simply remove him. I commend this idea to Sir Howard and our constitutional experts. Otherwise, the PNP will be in power for ever and ever, amen.
For even more than Mr. Patterson, the Leader of the Opposition lives firmly in the past. He longs for the Cold War and the days when he could "lock the country down tighter than a sardine can". He dreams of the glory days of the 1980s when the US poured millions into his Government in economic support funds and David Rockefeller personally came to stand by his side. But you got your chance and blew it Mr. Seaga. And what a chance too! The funds and goodwill were simply squandered. Sorry, it's gone for good and no amount of huffing and puffing will bring it back. The world political scene and the world economy of today are radically different from the days when you used to issue your "commands" to all and sundry. Not a single soul regards you anymore as a "financial wizard". Now your followers say that you are only a "breeder-leader". Sad.
Mr. Seaga is not and never will be comfortable with carrying out the role of Leader of the Opposition by appealing through facts and logic to the reason of the Jamaican people. That route is too slow and ordinary for the likes of him. He needs grand melodramatic gestures which cast him in the role of Shepherd, ready to prophesy and "command". Besides, time is not on his side. He will be 75 at the next general election and only the most fanatical will think the "breeder-leader" up to the task of Government then.
The unrewarding work of getting the Jamaican people to own up to the very tough choices facing us as a country, is therefore not for him. After all, if you tell the people these harsh truths that there is no alternative to cutting the budget deficit and to coming down hard on crime, this will not make you popular. What you would in effect be telling the Jamaican people is that if you became the Government tomorrow, you too would have to cut the budget and impose tax increases. What then would happen to your plans to launch demonstrations? You may have to wait even longer than 75!
Why tell the people the truth? That is allowing yourself to be "co-opted" by the Government. Promise instead pie in the sky. Breathe fire and brimstone! Bawl out "oppose, oppose, oppose". Threaten to "bring down the Government". Tell the people that the fall of the Government will bring milk and honey. Tell them that you - the financial wizard did not know about the budget deficit until recently, just as how you forgot to pay your taxes. Tell them that all of a sudden you are now willing to "trim" the salary increases to politicians, but not to roll back the increases. What a game!
We have an Opposition which does not how to oppose and a Government which does not know how to govern. We are between the devil and the deep blue sea. If this is the choice then of this much I am clear: give me the deep blue sea any day. But in fact this is not the choice. We can get the Government and the Opposition to return to sanity. It was done in the recent past and can be done again. The answer as usual is pressure from civil society. Merciless pressure until they learn how to behave themselves.
But more than pressure is needed. The Jamaican public must become more politically mature. It is partly because we have an immature public, ready to be pandered to and manipulated, that we have immature leadership, eager to pander and manipulate. It takes two to do this tango. Here again the sensible part of the media (they know who they are) have a major role of public education to play.
The media have to help us to understand that there is only one road to economic prosperity in Jamaica, no matter who is the Government of Jamaica. That the root cause of our economic distress is our own low levels of productivity and uncompetitiveness. Eliminating the budget deficit is the first essential step to this end, but is only a first step. Regardless of who is the Government. The hard problems are in the real economy in our real firms, most of whom are simply living in the past, like Mr. Seaga and Mr. Patterson. When a firm such as Grace, Kennedy which has radically restructured itself to become globally competitive, flexes its economic muscles, these ancient firms bawl for protection and whine about "aggressiveness". But they deserve not an ounce of sympathy. Worse than the politicians in their backwardness.
Likewise in the education system. The real problems there have nothing to do with access and free education. That was simply demagoguery from the Government, vying with the demagoguery from the Opposition. The real problems in education have to do with the low 35 per cent passes in English and the even lower passes in Math. The real problems have to do with the fact that 75 per cent of our employed labour force has no skills training, more than 15 years after HEART!
It's not popular to say this. It's more popular to talk garbage about free education. Well, just as how the media must help the Jamaican people to focus on the real problems in the real economy (low productivity, uncompetitiveness), it must also help us to focus on the real issues in education and training. And also the real issues in crime. And the real issues in poverty alleviation and inner city renewal. In all of these areas we are between a rock and a hard place, facing cruel but necessary choices. We must look these truths in the face and stop telling ourselves nonsense about "We little but we Tallawah". We must stop dreaming that some political magic wand can be waved to solve our enormous problems. We must stop talking drivel about "constitutional reform" and "bottom-up development". We have to buckle down and "settle".
When we learn to face these hard truths as a people, then no leader of any kind, Government or Opposition, can blind us with "science". Not one of them will ever dare to indulge in idle chatter about "log on" or in incendiary talk about "bringing down" this and "bringing down" that. We will be safe forever from these weapons of mass destruction.
Don Robotham is an anthropologist who specialises in development issues in the Caribbean and West Africa.
