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Claude Clarke, Contributor
The People's National Party (PNP) enters the 2009-2010 Budget Debate with a problem; and it is a problem with which it will have to deal before the next general election, if it is to have any chance of success.
Contesting any election with baggage from the past is never a workable proposition for a political party. I can think of no change of government in Jamaica's history which was not preceded by the successful party having carried out a winnowing of its policies and jetti-soning those aspects which most contri-buted to poor past performance and public disapproval. Michael Manley, separating himself from the most visible and unacceptable associations of the 1970s, was an outstanding example. The change of leadership in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) before the 2007 election also had the effect of removing the factor which most contributed to the unprecedented run of electoral successes by the PNP - the badly demonised image of Edward Seaga.
Neither Manley in 1989, nor Golding in 2007, had to carry the burden of his party's previous adverse image and were, therefore, free to present a new face and a new vision for the future, unencumbered by the aspects of their past, which were seen as objectionable.
There is nothing more detrimental to a party's ability to influence an electorate than the burden of defending past failed performances. A campaign cannot be successfully mounted on a defensive foundation. There has to be a fresh message: one which reflects the hopes and aspirations of the electorate. The People's National Party of 2009 stands before the nation still dressed in the soiled and failed economic policies of the 1990s, with no apparent desire for a change of clothing.
Breaking faith
It is difficult to imagine anything more contemp-tuous of the people than a political party ignoring their judgement expressed through their votes. In doing this, the PNP is breaking faith with the most important cornerstone of its commitment to the people: to trust and respect them. Is the party aware that the economic policies it practised during its four terms in office were rejected by the electorate in 2007? Does it really believe it can convince them to accept the same policies in a future election? Is it being contemptuous or is it simply tone deaf?
Political wisdom, as well as the PNP's founding principles, should oblige it to listen to the people, show that it has heard them and is prepared to change its course in response to the judgement of the electorate. But is it that we are witnessing a case of pure political arrogance, a presumption of intellectual superiority that gives the "brains" of the party the right to impose their "brilliance" on an electorate too ignorant to understand?
Could it be that despite the destructive outcome of its economic stewardship, the PNP believes the party was right and the people were wrong in voting it out of office? Does it believe the people should beg the party's forgiveness, put it back in office and allow it to continue the policies which created the degenerative economic paralysis it left behind?
It is hard to believe, but it appears the party is not really aware of the economic wringer through which it put the country during its four terms: the self-made financial-sector crisis created by its high interest-rate policy and the pointless pursuit of an overvalued currency; the saddling of present and future generations with a crippling debt in its attempt to mitigate the crisis it created; the establishment of conditions which denied credit to the businesses and individuals who became the victims of the crisis.
Almost an entire generation of Jamaican entrepreneurs and the productive capacity they created was wiped out. The jobs of tens of thousands of Jamaican workers were exported and the human capital they represented lay waste. The destruction of social capital resulting from the depletion of honest economic opportunity, and the consequent rise of lawlessness and the don-dominated social order, has made productive investments in Jamaica unviable, unsafe and unwise.
So bad was the record of economic performance that a new leader, coming to office with a near 80 per cent popularity rating, could not save the party at the polls. Mrs Simpson Miller has since expended much of her political capital and though still the most loved politician in Jamaica, will never be as popular again. She will, therefore, be even less able to carry the baggage of the party's failed economic policies into a future election.
For her to have even the slightest chance of future electoral success, she will have to shed that baggage and allow herself the time and space to present a credible new image and a new economic vision to the country.
If she fails to do this, it will not be long before an astute and ambitious individual seizes the obvious opportunity to ditch that burden and embrace a positive and hopeful future to make the PNP relevant again. Frankly, if Mrs Simpson Miller will not break with that past, the PNP itself will see the need for change and begin the search for new leadership: a leadership prepared to make the break with the old, a break for which Portia has so far displayed no appetite. Without that break, the party will be buried for a long time, hugging the corpse of a failed economic order.
Not easily tarnished
The party must also understand that its most dependable electoral asset, the demonised Edward Seaga, is no longer available to be wheeled out at election time to guarantee the rejection of the JLP. Golding will not be as easily tarnished.
Because of the highly publicised global economic crisis, the next elections are likely to be fought substantially on the basis of economic issues as never before. On what economic issue can the PNP successfully challenge the JLP while it lugs the economic disaster of its latest economic performance behind it? What credibility can its criticism of the JLP's present economic performance and plans have, when anyone with a modicum of intelligence and honesty knows that the present Government is hamstrung with the economic debacle inherited from it?
Instead of using the opportunity of opposition to separate itself from the failures of the past and fashion a new policy framework for the future, the party seems prepared to mark time, waiting for its turn to come again, and is failing to address the critical economic issues of the day because it is so tightly tethered to its recent failed policies.
The situation facing our country today demands the clearest minds and least-encumbered hands to steer us through the tempest of domestic and international economic woes which surround us. The Jamaican people are more aware of these economic crises than they have been of any crisis before, and will be looking for leadership that can inspire their confidence to see us through to safety. How can the persons who created the domestic economic crisis and in so doing squandered the resources and productive capacity the country now needs to properly respond to the international crisis, convince any but political diehards that they could lead us to safe ground, when they remain wedded to the same discredited policies? Can any new policy mooted by the party be credible if its core position remains rooted in that fatally flawed economic policy base?
The PNP must resolve to free itself from the shackles of those economic policies which inflicted so much damage on so many for so long, and pledge that it will never again return the country to that destructive path, if it is ever to regain credibility and relevance.
Acknowledging mistakes
The country will only progress if we are prepared to acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them. Leaders must be called to account for the consequences of their actions. Michael Manley called himself to account, acknowledged his mistakes and reaped the reward of a spectacular return to power. The JLP, in a somewhat different manner, did the same and gained a victory many thought unlikely against an extraordinarily popular PNP leader. Both Manley and Golding were able to present themselves to the electorate with a new image, new vigour, new energy and new policies. None of this could have happened if there was not the acknowledgement of past mistakes and missteps.
There is an abundance of talented and committed party supporters and adherents to the founding principles of the PNP. There are patriotic Jamaicans, some outside and on the periphery of the party, who are willing, eager and able to give their all to achieve the change the party needs. But the present leadership seems so wholly beholden to the old guard it is unable to take the reins of control and lead the party in the new direction in which it must go if it is to be taken seriously by the people in the future.
Claude Clarke is a former trader minister and manufacturer. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...cleisure2.html
The People's National Party (PNP) enters the 2009-2010 Budget Debate with a problem; and it is a problem with which it will have to deal before the next general election, if it is to have any chance of success.
Contesting any election with baggage from the past is never a workable proposition for a political party. I can think of no change of government in Jamaica's history which was not preceded by the successful party having carried out a winnowing of its policies and jetti-soning those aspects which most contri-buted to poor past performance and public disapproval. Michael Manley, separating himself from the most visible and unacceptable associations of the 1970s, was an outstanding example. The change of leadership in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) before the 2007 election also had the effect of removing the factor which most contributed to the unprecedented run of electoral successes by the PNP - the badly demonised image of Edward Seaga.
Neither Manley in 1989, nor Golding in 2007, had to carry the burden of his party's previous adverse image and were, therefore, free to present a new face and a new vision for the future, unencumbered by the aspects of their past, which were seen as objectionable.
There is nothing more detrimental to a party's ability to influence an electorate than the burden of defending past failed performances. A campaign cannot be successfully mounted on a defensive foundation. There has to be a fresh message: one which reflects the hopes and aspirations of the electorate. The People's National Party of 2009 stands before the nation still dressed in the soiled and failed economic policies of the 1990s, with no apparent desire for a change of clothing.
Breaking faith
It is difficult to imagine anything more contemp-tuous of the people than a political party ignoring their judgement expressed through their votes. In doing this, the PNP is breaking faith with the most important cornerstone of its commitment to the people: to trust and respect them. Is the party aware that the economic policies it practised during its four terms in office were rejected by the electorate in 2007? Does it really believe it can convince them to accept the same policies in a future election? Is it being contemptuous or is it simply tone deaf?
Political wisdom, as well as the PNP's founding principles, should oblige it to listen to the people, show that it has heard them and is prepared to change its course in response to the judgement of the electorate. But is it that we are witnessing a case of pure political arrogance, a presumption of intellectual superiority that gives the "brains" of the party the right to impose their "brilliance" on an electorate too ignorant to understand?
Could it be that despite the destructive outcome of its economic stewardship, the PNP believes the party was right and the people were wrong in voting it out of office? Does it believe the people should beg the party's forgiveness, put it back in office and allow it to continue the policies which created the degenerative economic paralysis it left behind?
It is hard to believe, but it appears the party is not really aware of the economic wringer through which it put the country during its four terms: the self-made financial-sector crisis created by its high interest-rate policy and the pointless pursuit of an overvalued currency; the saddling of present and future generations with a crippling debt in its attempt to mitigate the crisis it created; the establishment of conditions which denied credit to the businesses and individuals who became the victims of the crisis.
Almost an entire generation of Jamaican entrepreneurs and the productive capacity they created was wiped out. The jobs of tens of thousands of Jamaican workers were exported and the human capital they represented lay waste. The destruction of social capital resulting from the depletion of honest economic opportunity, and the consequent rise of lawlessness and the don-dominated social order, has made productive investments in Jamaica unviable, unsafe and unwise.
So bad was the record of economic performance that a new leader, coming to office with a near 80 per cent popularity rating, could not save the party at the polls. Mrs Simpson Miller has since expended much of her political capital and though still the most loved politician in Jamaica, will never be as popular again. She will, therefore, be even less able to carry the baggage of the party's failed economic policies into a future election.
For her to have even the slightest chance of future electoral success, she will have to shed that baggage and allow herself the time and space to present a credible new image and a new economic vision to the country.
If she fails to do this, it will not be long before an astute and ambitious individual seizes the obvious opportunity to ditch that burden and embrace a positive and hopeful future to make the PNP relevant again. Frankly, if Mrs Simpson Miller will not break with that past, the PNP itself will see the need for change and begin the search for new leadership: a leadership prepared to make the break with the old, a break for which Portia has so far displayed no appetite. Without that break, the party will be buried for a long time, hugging the corpse of a failed economic order.
Not easily tarnished
The party must also understand that its most dependable electoral asset, the demonised Edward Seaga, is no longer available to be wheeled out at election time to guarantee the rejection of the JLP. Golding will not be as easily tarnished.
Because of the highly publicised global economic crisis, the next elections are likely to be fought substantially on the basis of economic issues as never before. On what economic issue can the PNP successfully challenge the JLP while it lugs the economic disaster of its latest economic performance behind it? What credibility can its criticism of the JLP's present economic performance and plans have, when anyone with a modicum of intelligence and honesty knows that the present Government is hamstrung with the economic debacle inherited from it?
Instead of using the opportunity of opposition to separate itself from the failures of the past and fashion a new policy framework for the future, the party seems prepared to mark time, waiting for its turn to come again, and is failing to address the critical economic issues of the day because it is so tightly tethered to its recent failed policies.
The situation facing our country today demands the clearest minds and least-encumbered hands to steer us through the tempest of domestic and international economic woes which surround us. The Jamaican people are more aware of these economic crises than they have been of any crisis before, and will be looking for leadership that can inspire their confidence to see us through to safety. How can the persons who created the domestic economic crisis and in so doing squandered the resources and productive capacity the country now needs to properly respond to the international crisis, convince any but political diehards that they could lead us to safe ground, when they remain wedded to the same discredited policies? Can any new policy mooted by the party be credible if its core position remains rooted in that fatally flawed economic policy base?
The PNP must resolve to free itself from the shackles of those economic policies which inflicted so much damage on so many for so long, and pledge that it will never again return the country to that destructive path, if it is ever to regain credibility and relevance.
Acknowledging mistakes
The country will only progress if we are prepared to acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them. Leaders must be called to account for the consequences of their actions. Michael Manley called himself to account, acknowledged his mistakes and reaped the reward of a spectacular return to power. The JLP, in a somewhat different manner, did the same and gained a victory many thought unlikely against an extraordinarily popular PNP leader. Both Manley and Golding were able to present themselves to the electorate with a new image, new vigour, new energy and new policies. None of this could have happened if there was not the acknowledgement of past mistakes and missteps.
There is an abundance of talented and committed party supporters and adherents to the founding principles of the PNP. There are patriotic Jamaicans, some outside and on the periphery of the party, who are willing, eager and able to give their all to achieve the change the party needs. But the present leadership seems so wholly beholden to the old guard it is unable to take the reins of control and lead the party in the new direction in which it must go if it is to be taken seriously by the people in the future.
Claude Clarke is a former trader minister and manufacturer. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...cleisure2.html