Dawn RitchTHE RECENT by-election in Mount Industry should bring home to the Jamaica Labour Party the necessity for party unity. And even more so for teamwork.
I was somewhat surprised that the Labour Party lost this division. I am told even by Abe Dabdoub's detractors that his constituency has one of the finest political organisations, equalled only by Edward Seaga's, Karl Samuda's and Mike Henry's. What went wrong then? I understand that JLP Chairman Bruce Golding and deputy leader for that region, James Robertson, called a meeting on the Saturday night before Nomination Day. In that meeting Golding and Robertson both announced that Bobby Montague, Mayor of Port Maria, would be the campaign chairman for this by-election. This was reportedly done without consulting the Member of Parliament, or indeed even advising him. And this despite the fact that the JLP's Operations Council had already appointed General Secretary Karl Samuda to be campaign manager for that division.
Many people are of the view that Golding's team deliberately undermined Dabdoub by not co-operating with Karl Samuda. In his role of general secretary, Samuda found himself unable to get the Golding faction to forget about campaigning for Golding as leader, and campaign for Beverley Howell as councillor/candidate.
There is a fundamental difference between profiling in the spotlight, and being a political organiser on the ground. The Golding faction, which includes some youngsters at the leadership level of the party, needs to learn this.
They have been overcome by what they thought was an irreversible victory in the local government elections of 2003. But between the country's disgust with Dr. Omar Davies' confession about how he wasted the country's money in order to get the PNP General Election victory in 2002, and the resulting significant price rises and stealth taxation, a local government victory for the JLP was inevitable. And, in the scheme of things, unimportant.
RIDING HIGH
Those youngsters in the JLP who support Bruce Golding, have been riding high since then. They have shown no respect for the party's traditions, no respect for its experience, and none for those individuals within it who have proven their electoral ability time and time again, regardless of the popular trend.
The party has therefore never been in a more perilous state. Since the internal JLP elections of 2003 the newcomers have been hung up on their own self-importance. And Golding in his usual style has become captive of those he considers "new and different", regardless of substance. Golding himself is a great believer in his own self-importance, which clearly makes him put his own self-interest above that of the party to which he has returned.
No amount of front-page stories or television interviews will ever substitute for on-the-ground political organisation. He should have at least learnt that lesson from Babsy Grange in the 1997 General Election, when she sealed the fate of the NDM.
It may not please the newcomers now 'in charge' of the JLP, but they have to go house-to-house begging for support, on their knees, as George W. Bush did, or face the same fate as John Kerry. Consternation in media will be their only reward.
TUMBLE
All JLP mayors and JLP newcomers to Parliament parading as great conquerors, should realise by now that they will tumble if they continue to allow the party organisation to crumble. They encourage by their continuing behaviour a lack of accountability and disrespect for those who have served. When one considers that a political party is a voluntary organisation, the highest value must be placed on loyalty at all levels. To fail to do so is to remove the only incentive that keeps decent people in politics.
To Beverly Howell I say take heart. Marriot didn't beat you. He didn't beat the JLP either. He beat Bruce Golding, whose T-Shirts and caps were everywhere in evidence. None of these promotional items had the letters "JLP" on them. In fact they were identified with the JLP only by their colour, which when I saw them on the television news, sometimes took on a haze of blue.
DON'T BLAME YOURSELF
To Dabdoub I say don't blame yourself. Your organisation was not in the polling stations. There are reports that 828 persons voted by having to take an oath of identification because they had no ID cards. This seems an unusually high figure to me, and worthy of investigation. I hope you pursue the matter.
To Golding I say no amount of public relations can absolve you and your team of blame for this defeat. If you can't carry a simple Parish Council by-election, you need to examine your own leadership ability. Or at the very least the team around you. Unless you are able to have Edward Seaga give you his extremely safe seat, it is almost certain that even the role of Leader of the Opposition will elude you.
