Stephen Vasciannie
PRIME MINISTER Simpson Miller has taken over. The problems she will face - the challenges - will be many, varied, interrelated, multifaceted and profound.
This will have to be a time of action, we will have to put our shoulders to the wheel; we will have to come together to slay this dragon, to overcome that scourge; no stone must be left unturned; we must confront the demons as we stay the course, on the right track.
Some of the political analysts that prevail in our talk show world are brilliant, but others are pedestrian. Many are tendentious and a few are given over to self-glorification.
No one really talks about them because if you throw stones at them today, they have the ability to throw personal stones at you tomorrow. But here is my point: as Mrs. Simpson Miller assumes the post of Head of Government, public commentators should try not to push her into a pond of platitudes; that lowers the debate and, indeed, renders much of the debate irrelevant to political leaders in the country.
HUMAN RIGHTS
No doubt, the Prime Minister has a strong sense of the challenges before her, and hardly needs another list thrown in her direction. But as she spoke at the historic swearing-in last Thursday, the question of priorities came to mind. On these occasions, we tend to hear what we want to hear, but two things struck me most forcefully. First, in the Prime Minister's own listing of priorities, pride of place was guaranteed for human rights and individual liberty.
This is important, but, of course, it will need elaboration in practice. In the period of the Patterson Government, there have been significant human rights challenges, as well as attempts to address those challenges. And, no one can fairly say that at the policy level, Prime Minister Patterson was opposed to the promotion and protection of human rights.
The policies have shown sensitivity to human rights issues, the challenge has been how to implement those policies - in security force activities, in the gathering of evidence, in the treatment of citizens - on a daily basis. If Mrs. Simpson Miller's statement last week is a sign of increased emphasis on rights implementation, this will redound to the country's benefit.
The second point that struck me in the Prime Minister's inaugural address was the brief personal reference to the fact that she had risen, as a girl from deep rural Jamaica, to the position of Head of Government in Jamaica. This is the key, I believe, to Mrs. Simpson Miller's popularity in the country:
It is not only that she has risen, but it is also that she has publicly remembered her roots. Many Jamaicans are of humble origins - and even those who distance themselves emotionally from those origins want to know that the opportunity is there for other to rise.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller accepts her Instrument of Appointment from Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Honourable Professor Kenneth Hall during her swearing-in as the nation's first woman Prime Minister at King's House last Thursday. - FILE
PARADOXICAL
So, Mrs. Simpson Miller, in one sentence, captured one element of the Jamaican dream, if not two; for notice, in addition to the fact that the elevation is from rural Jamaica, it is the elevation of a 'girl'.
Jamaican society remains paradoxical on the question of gender. The glass ceiling is still there in some places, there are still all-male places of socialisation and camaraderie, and the political arena remains noticeably male-oriented.
But, at the same time, the socialisation process for most young people is in the hands of women; at the institutional level, the educational system rejects discrimination; the vast majority of tertiary level students in most areas are women; and the election of Mrs. Simpson Miller herself is evidence that male biases can be overcome within this system.
OTHER PRIORITIES
Finally, here is my short-list of other priorities. Mrs. Simpson Miller, as part of her team, must lead us from the valley of the shadow of drug dealers, drug traffickers and murderers.
It is good that she has retained Dr. Phillips in National Security, and she must give him all the means to deal with the problem. And she must give full support to the idea that we must rely on all the international assistance we can get in this area. Crime and security will be the acid test.
Social interventions to raise the standard of living of most Jamaicans will also be necessary, but they will need to be based on a conservative approach to budget expenditure.
There is no significant room to manoeuvre in this regard, but some attempt will have to be made to demonstrate that the neoliberal model takes into account the concerns of the poorest in society.
Stephen Vasciannie is a professor at the University of the West Indies and a Deputy Solicitor General.
