Dawn Ritch
IF THERE is one defining cultural characteristic of Jamaicans, it is that we find the time to talk to strangers, and without hope of reward. Worldwide, Jamaicans are recognised for their sense of hospitality reported time and again by visiting foreigners and tourists. This is born of the fact that we are a sidewalk people who cherish the chance encounter with a total stranger open to chatting, and that means the vast majority of Jamaicans.
We know how to talk pleasantly about nothing in particular, and enjoy it. And nobody takes or asks for a $100 for doing it either. Probably because the humour involved is usually its own reward. But chatting was never intended to become a method of economic organisation for an entire society.
I could never have imagined therefore, that this peculiarly Jamaican phenomenon would become enshrined as the modus operandi of the House of Representatives. The only thing in life that both sides of the House look forward to doing is going to Parliament and having chance encounters in the hallways, blowing kisses across the divide, giving sweet smiles to each other, and staging the occasional fracas for the television cameras and public consumption. There are those who believe therefore, that both sides of the House are engaged in a massive sell-out of the people of the country. The proposed agenda for a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) retreat before last Christmas, gives credence to this view.
Down for discussion by the JLP officer corps were the Caribbean Single Market, the Free Trade Area, campaign funding, economy at large, the Anti-Terrorism Act, and the Caribbean Court of Justice. Not up for discussion was a single party matter, such as how to rescue the country from this corrupt government.
I was so deeply shocked by that agenda that I was glad I was on vacation, and didn't have to think about it.
UP FOR AGREEMENT
But the same agenda was still up for agreement early this year, and the JLP found itself unable to have a retreat on that basis. A significant body of opinion at the Standing Committee believes that these agenda items have nothing to do with the party. They refuse to go on retreat unless it is about party matters.
Of course the question of whose agenda in the JLP this is is the moot point. Because any fool can understand that this is the agenda of the Government of Jamaica, which should be left to its own devices. These matters ought not to be of concern to the JLP. But "Campaign Funding" was raised by the Opposition Leader himself, and the Government has been happy to say that it is going ahead with Mr. Seaga's recommendations on how to establish a republic and the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Is Edward Seaga running the country and we didn't know? And how can that be right when he lost the last General Election?
The Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, Prime Minister, is in charge, but it appears he's not running the country. Mr. Seaga is doing that, as a puppet whose strings are firmly held in the hands of the Most Honourable. To mix metaphors, Mr. Patterson is playing him like a violin.
Both of them are quintessential sidewalk people and they love to gab on the streets, and get people gabbing. This is called the process of consultation between stakeholders. But it is just a device for the interminable postponement of sensible government in the sole interest of their own personal position and power. As long as they continue to talk to each other, they will be frozen in their official positions, which suits both of them quite fine.
At this point the only improvement both envisage is that the Most Honourable continues as Prime Minister right up to the next General Election, with Mr. Seaga having become President in the meantime of the new republic of Jamaica. So, I'm sure they will be fast-tracking both republican status as well as the CCJ.
EVEN MORE REASON
Now they'll have even more reason to get together and talk, because they'll be finding their way around a new system of government. And all this without consulting the most important stakeholder of all, the Jamaican people.
It would appear that there is a conspiracy to carry down the Jamaican people between both major political parties, and involving some Members of Parliament on both sides of the House. The People's National Party (PNP) Government long ago hijacked the private sector organisations and it is now abundantly clear that they've also hijacked the Opposition. Mr. Patterson knows we have a weakness for talk and position, and is quite happy to have us enjoy them to the fullest extent, even though they come with no power. All of which serves to maintain him safely as Prime Minister, and the PNP in power in perpetuity.
The role of the Opposition is not to advise the Government, but to oppose it. By mixing himself up with them and making proposals to them, Mr. Seaga not only devalues the currency of opposition, but helps the Government to continue the oppression of the people.
This Government was elected to office on the campaign slogan "Don't Stop The Progress". This is what the people voted for. So why is Mr. Seaga helping the Government in any way, or even trying to hinder them? It ought to be no business of his. Interference of this sort can only come of vanity, and not out of a thought for the country and the people in it.
Whatever they're doing together, Mr. Patterson and Mr. Seaga, we can be sure of one thing. They are not amending the laws and the constitution to reduce the power of the political directorate and to give power to the people. This is why the people of the country will have to continue to block roads and to cry for justice.
It is just possible that Mr. Seaga's interest and those of the JLP no longer coincide. And they better get up off their fanny and do something about it. The Opposition is abrogating its responsibility to the country, and discrediting its image as a suitable Government-in-waiting. It has become nothing more than a social support group for a failed government and policies. Worse, it is anxious not to lose that position.
