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EDITORIAL: Truth, honesty and governance
published: Friday | September 22, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
In the context of Jamaica's own experience with a 'run-with-it' quality of governance and a deeply and widely held assumption that the country's politics is run on a lubricant of lies and half-truths, developments this week in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, should have special resonance and relevance in Kingston.
What is happening in Hungary is that many people are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany who, it has emerged, has admitted to lying about the state of the country's economy in order to win general elections earlier this year.
Mr. Gyurcsany, of course, did not admit his lies or the failures of the past Socialist administration directly to the people, but rather at closed-door post-election meeting of his party's parliamentary group. It is a tape recording of that speech which was recently leaked to the press.
In pressing the case for urgent reform, Mr. Gyurcsany told his MPs: "There is not much choice. There is not, because we screwed up. Not a little, a lot. No European country has done something as boneheaded as we have.
"Evidently, we lied throughout the last year and a half, two years ... You cannot quote any significant government measure we can be proud of, other than at the end we managed to bring the Government back from the brink. Nothing!"
So, Mr. Gyurcsany conceded, "We lied in the morning, we lied in the evening."
As he resists calls for his resignation, the Prime Minister now suggests that his statement was in part hyperbolic, a sort of rallying the troops for a difficult agenda, but more important, was meant to underline the failures of the political elite since Hungary's move to democracy in 1989.
Jamaica has had its recent parallel. The 2003 admission by the Finance Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, of his decision the previous year to 'run with it', fully aware that while his budget-busting spending was good for his party's electoral chances, it would be bad for the economy. The upshot was a huge tax package in the 2003 budget and a delay towards the end of the decade for achieving a balanced budget.
Dr. Davies has never forthrightly apologised for his action, preferring instead to dance around the edges of the issue.
The matter is of special relevance at this time, given that general elections are imminent, with relatively new leaders at the helm of the two major political parties.
Hopefully, voters will weigh carefully the declarations and promises of those offering themselves for public office, sifting what is fanciful from what is credible. Indeed, the electorate owes it to itself to arrive at determinations based on the best-available facts, being on the watch for the three-card punters and purveyors of snake charms that promise to cure all ills.
But politicians need to declare to a new decency of honest, open, transparent and truthful representation and governance. Their assumed role of paternalistic benevolence runs counter to the notions of democracy. People have a right to the truth and the facts. They must demand it.
In the meantime, it may be timely to begin exploring ways to punish political leaders whose ascent to national leadership is on the basis of lies to the people. <HR>The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.</DIV>
published: Friday | September 22, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
In the context of Jamaica's own experience with a 'run-with-it' quality of governance and a deeply and widely held assumption that the country's politics is run on a lubricant of lies and half-truths, developments this week in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, should have special resonance and relevance in Kingston.
What is happening in Hungary is that many people are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany who, it has emerged, has admitted to lying about the state of the country's economy in order to win general elections earlier this year.
Mr. Gyurcsany, of course, did not admit his lies or the failures of the past Socialist administration directly to the people, but rather at closed-door post-election meeting of his party's parliamentary group. It is a tape recording of that speech which was recently leaked to the press.
In pressing the case for urgent reform, Mr. Gyurcsany told his MPs: "There is not much choice. There is not, because we screwed up. Not a little, a lot. No European country has done something as boneheaded as we have.
"Evidently, we lied throughout the last year and a half, two years ... You cannot quote any significant government measure we can be proud of, other than at the end we managed to bring the Government back from the brink. Nothing!"
So, Mr. Gyurcsany conceded, "We lied in the morning, we lied in the evening."
As he resists calls for his resignation, the Prime Minister now suggests that his statement was in part hyperbolic, a sort of rallying the troops for a difficult agenda, but more important, was meant to underline the failures of the political elite since Hungary's move to democracy in 1989.
Jamaica has had its recent parallel. The 2003 admission by the Finance Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, of his decision the previous year to 'run with it', fully aware that while his budget-busting spending was good for his party's electoral chances, it would be bad for the economy. The upshot was a huge tax package in the 2003 budget and a delay towards the end of the decade for achieving a balanced budget.
Dr. Davies has never forthrightly apologised for his action, preferring instead to dance around the edges of the issue.
The matter is of special relevance at this time, given that general elections are imminent, with relatively new leaders at the helm of the two major political parties.
Hopefully, voters will weigh carefully the declarations and promises of those offering themselves for public office, sifting what is fanciful from what is credible. Indeed, the electorate owes it to itself to arrive at determinations based on the best-available facts, being on the watch for the three-card punters and purveyors of snake charms that promise to cure all ills.
But politicians need to declare to a new decency of honest, open, transparent and truthful representation and governance. Their assumed role of paternalistic benevolence runs counter to the notions of democracy. People have a right to the truth and the facts. They must demand it.
In the meantime, it may be timely to begin exploring ways to punish political leaders whose ascent to national leadership is on the basis of lies to the people. <HR>The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.</DIV>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica is like that little girl, too common these days, whom almost everybody says they want to see succeed yet few seem willing or able to help. Having an appeal all her own and a feigned smile to hide the hurt that lies within, she tries against the odds to make it along life's arduous journey. She is a molested child, raped of her innocence by those who should protect her. There is a hint left of the promise that is yet to come to fruition. Her achievements flicker like a candle struggling to stay lit on a windy night. Who will come to her rescue?<P class=StoryText align=justify>If the analogy and the question disturb the reader, the purpose for the melodramatic start to this article would have been served. There is a way that if we look at our country it will incite anger in the most passive soul. Out of that anger we may experience the birth of a revolutionary spirit. For it must be clear to everyone by now that "the dogmas of the quiet past (espoused by pie-in-the-sky preachers, power-seeking politicians and profit-hungry private sector interests) are inadequate for the stormy present".<P class=StoryText align=justify>Martin Luther King Jr gave expression to his anger through leadership of the first great non-violent resistance movement in contemporary America. His was an outstanding life of selflessness for a cause, starting with a bus boycott in 1955 which led to a repeal of laws requiring segregation on buses and ending when he fell to an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968. In between he travelled over six million miles, gave over 2,500 speeches, was arrested upwards of 20 times and was viciously assaulted four times. At age 35, he became the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize and in death has had a public holiday named in honour of his peaceful resistance to injustice, inequality and inhumanity.<P class=StoryText align=justify>What is it about Jamaica that would justify protest and action on such a scale? Mahatma Gandhi, the man from whom Martin Luther King Jr adopted his non-violent strategy and a moral crusader himself, identified a number of evils in society which, if left unattended, have the potential to degrade the quality of life and to destroy humankind ultimately. These he described as:<P class=StoryText align=justify>1) Wealth without work. 
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