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What Seaga said about Warmington
Michael Burke
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Twenty-seven years ago on October 30, 1980, the Jamaica Labour Party won power by a landslide. One of the new members of parliament, only 28 years old at the time, sought to shut down a project because only PNP supporters were employed there. There was a hue and cry, and Edward Seaga as prime minister had to intervene. In his speech at the opening of Parliament, then Prime Minister Edward Seaga referred to it. He said that he had told the new MP that such behaviour was unacceptable. That young member of parliament went by the name of Everald Warmington.
On that occasion, Edward Seaga said that Warmington was "contrite". Interestingly enough, Prime Minister Bruce Golding used the same word "contrite" to describe Warmington's current position 27 years later. Today, Warmington is 55 years old and is again the subject of controversy. He apologised late Tuesday evening - at least 24 hours after a similar apology came from Robert Montague.
Most people thought Montague knew better. His pronouncements of the recent past gave everyone the impression that he was a new type of politician, but the same old story of victimisation has reared its head. There is a long history of JLP governments while in power threatening people about what they will do if a local government election or a by-election to either Parliament or the local government body does not go their way. After all the pronouncements by Bruce Golding, starting with his days in the National Democratic Movement, about being "new and different", such pronouncements apparently are not shared by the rank and file members of his party.
And Golding is in a dilemma because there is nothing much that he can do to either Montague or Warmington. After all, the JLP has a very slim majority in the House with 32 seats.
Warmington served as MP for South West St Catherine from 1980 to 1989 and again since 2002. This time around it is like 1980, in at least one respect. The JLP is in power and Warmington is in the House. One would have thought though that by now Warmington would have matured mentally. That 1980 incident would never have been brought up had he not done a somewhat similar thing 27 years later.
I have already written that part of the problem that politicians face is that they forget that these days whatever is said on the platform is videotaped and becomes TV news. In Warmington's case, however, I find it difficult to believe that he was simply spouting political hype, because of the incident in 1980.
Edward Seaga, in putting a damage-control spin on the 1980 incident, said that only one labourite had been employed by the previous PNP government and when they found out that he was a JLP supporter he got a thorough beating. Seaga offered that as a reason why Warmington did what he did in 1980. In any case, Seaga told Warmington that his behaviour was unacceptable. (Please read Hansard - proceedings of Parliament, opening of the House of Representatives, November 18, 1980, page 112 of the relevant volume.)
Michael Burke
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Twenty-seven years ago on October 30, 1980, the Jamaica Labour Party won power by a landslide. One of the new members of parliament, only 28 years old at the time, sought to shut down a project because only PNP supporters were employed there. There was a hue and cry, and Edward Seaga as prime minister had to intervene. In his speech at the opening of Parliament, then Prime Minister Edward Seaga referred to it. He said that he had told the new MP that such behaviour was unacceptable. That young member of parliament went by the name of Everald Warmington.
On that occasion, Edward Seaga said that Warmington was "contrite". Interestingly enough, Prime Minister Bruce Golding used the same word "contrite" to describe Warmington's current position 27 years later. Today, Warmington is 55 years old and is again the subject of controversy. He apologised late Tuesday evening - at least 24 hours after a similar apology came from Robert Montague.
Most people thought Montague knew better. His pronouncements of the recent past gave everyone the impression that he was a new type of politician, but the same old story of victimisation has reared its head. There is a long history of JLP governments while in power threatening people about what they will do if a local government election or a by-election to either Parliament or the local government body does not go their way. After all the pronouncements by Bruce Golding, starting with his days in the National Democratic Movement, about being "new and different", such pronouncements apparently are not shared by the rank and file members of his party.
And Golding is in a dilemma because there is nothing much that he can do to either Montague or Warmington. After all, the JLP has a very slim majority in the House with 32 seats.
Warmington served as MP for South West St Catherine from 1980 to 1989 and again since 2002. This time around it is like 1980, in at least one respect. The JLP is in power and Warmington is in the House. One would have thought though that by now Warmington would have matured mentally. That 1980 incident would never have been brought up had he not done a somewhat similar thing 27 years later.
I have already written that part of the problem that politicians face is that they forget that these days whatever is said on the platform is videotaped and becomes TV news. In Warmington's case, however, I find it difficult to believe that he was simply spouting political hype, because of the incident in 1980.
Edward Seaga, in putting a damage-control spin on the 1980 incident, said that only one labourite had been employed by the previous PNP government and when they found out that he was a JLP supporter he got a thorough beating. Seaga offered that as a reason why Warmington did what he did in 1980. In any case, Seaga told Warmington that his behaviour was unacceptable. (Please read Hansard - proceedings of Parliament, opening of the House of Representatives, November 18, 1980, page 112 of the relevant volume.)
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