Arnold Bertram
EDWARD SEAGA spent the last decade of his political career trying to undo the divisions within the JLP which he himself had done much to create. He did not succeed. Even at the conference at which his party bade him farewell, the disunity prevailed and he publicly complained of the disrespect to which he had been subjected by his own colleagues. Despite his immense contribution to the JLP and Jamaica, it is clear that his colleagues still held him responsible for the 15 years they had spent in the political wilderness.
Not even the election of a new leader Bruce Golding has so far convinced the electorate that the JLP is deserving of its confidence. The inherited internal divisions and consequent lack of confidence and cohesion within the JLP have made Golding's job almost improbable as 'making snow cones in hell'. Truth is healing and reconciliation doesn't come naturally. Both require a very special and sustained effort similar to that undertaken by Nelson Mandela in South Africa over the last 15 years. In the absence of such a process, Golding has been forced to contend with the reality that many Jamaicans had written off the JLP as a political institution condemned to repeated failure at the polls.
RESURRECTING THE JLP
In one single afternoon Paul Burke, a former chairman of PNP's Region 3, and presently a senior strategist for presidential hopeful Portia Simpson Miller almost revived the political fortunes of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Whatever the intentions this was the result of a document titled, 'Team Portia's Report to the General Secretary' prepared and distributed by Burke, which Golding and Shaw immediately seized upon as a gift from the gods. Burke's document alluded to "Abuse of State Financing in the Presidential Campaign" and "expressed concern and requested information concerning the spending of funds from the Ministry of National Security's Community Security Initiative (CSI) and for the repairs and refurbishing and painting of police stations".
FIGHT AGAINST
ORGANISED CRIME
The gravity of these charges is best understood against the background that the CSI has been made possible by a grant from the British Government which the Ministry of National Security is restricted to spend against the strictest guidelines and with absolute transparency for identifiable objectives. It is also managed by a board on which representatives of the British Government sit. Whether intended or not, these charges brings into question the integrity of the minister of National Security who is also a presidential contender, and of the Ministry which is coordinating and directing the fight against organised crime.
It is inconceivable that a senior member of the party could make such grave allegations against his own party and colleagues without offering the slightest thread of evidence. While I defend Burke's right to expose corruption wherever it is to be found, he equally has an obligation not to impugn other people's character and integrity without some evidence.
However, the offence is even further compounded by the context in which it was perpetrated. P.J. Patterson had just concluded his final address to the National Executive Council (NEC) after 50 years of service to the party which he had crowned by leading it to an unprecedented fourth consecutive victory in general elections. In this address Patterson had warned the party in general and the presidential candidates in particular of the dangers of disunity and had the NEC endorsed a code of conduct to be observed by each candidate which specifically required the routing of complaints first to the relevant party organ.
It was immediately after this meeting of the NEC at which Patterson spoke that the document was distributed. There is no escaping the explicit disrespect to the Party Leader, and the undermining of party discipline. As was expected the allegations against the Community Security Initiative could not have been more groundless, however, the damage that has been done will not be as easily repaired. As the proverb warns us allegations like feathers once released are never all recollected. The stage has been set for more divisiveness and this can only be avoided by the leadership of the respective campaigns.
THE PRICE OF DIVISION
The PNP had paid dearly for the division in the party, which finally came to the surface in 1952 and resulted in the expulsion of its most energetic and capable organisers and the demoralisation of the party. The effects were not felt immediately because the party won the elections in 1955, largely because, the electorate had had as much as it could have taken of Bustamante's personalise and autocratic political style. It was not until the issue of Federation in 1958, when the Party was unable to mount a nationwide educational campaign that the absence of those expelled was felt.
We were soundly beaten in the federal elections of 1958. One of the successful candidates for the JLP was Ken Hill, the man who more than any other had built the foundations for the PNP's dominance of the Corporate Area from 1949. By the referendum on Federation in 1961, the division in the party was wide open and the following year the PNP was decisively beaten in the Corporate Area.
A TIME TO CALL A HALT
The PNP and Jamaica are still paying for the ideological differences in the latter part of the '70s which robbed the party of its cohesion and unity and the country of its developing entrepreneurial class.
The inordinate length of the campaign, the magnitude of the stakes involved and the extraordinary egos which form a part of all political personalities had made this period of transition a very difficult one. Clear indicators are emerging that some contenders are not going to be gracious losers. Anything which feeds division at this stage can only make the task that much more complex after the
presidential elections.
Fortunately, the delegates continue to show maturity and a willingness to put their party and country first. They like the rest of Jamaica are taking careful note as events unfold which give more clarity. Above all, they link their political fortunes over the last 15 years with the unity of the party forged by
P.J. Patterson, and are not about to sacrifice this unity on the altar of anyone's political opportunism.
Arnold Bertram, a historian and former parliamentarian, is at present chairman of Research and Project Development Ltd. Comments may be sent to: redev@cwjamaica.com.
