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OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM NEEDS A COLON FLUSH
Raulston Nembhard
Saturday, October 24, 2009
As the government faces mounting difficulties, the Opposition has become very strident in recent times. Never mind that the present administration's problems have been exacerbated by the almost 20 years of decadent governance under the PNP.
If you listen to prominent spokespersons of the Opposition you get the distinct impression that they are either suffering from the onset of Alzheimer's or at any rate from selective amnesia. If you were from another planet you could not believe that they had anything to do with the ramshackle state of the country's social and economic infrastructure and its rapid descent into the bowels of poverty and anarchy. You would think that they have been out of power for at least a decade and that the present woes are a result of their successors' malfeasance, corruption, ineptness and sheer incompetence.
When you live in denial for too long you begin to believe your own lie. One is not saying that the PNP should not criticise the government. As Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition they have a right to keep the government's feet to the fire in the interest of the Jamaican people. By Jamaican standards they are being paid handsomely to do this. But one cannot help hearing the hollow ring of their strident voices for their words lack credibility and are devoid of real meaning. They lack objectivity and bear no resemblance to the truth concerning their own culpability in fostering the mess that the country now finds itself in.
The country deserves better from the Opposition. Waiting to get their hands on the levers of power is not what we need at this time. We need statesmanship and sound leadership from those being paid to serve the country. Having your eyes set only on winning an election does not provide the country with the kind of robust, collaborative effort that is needed in a time of crisis to move the country out of its quagmire. We need reasoned, objective analysis of its problems and cogent and workable ideas as to how it can survive.
And we are in survival mode in Jamaica whether our leaders know this or not. The impending layoffs in the public sector will put a tremendous strain on many households when the layoffs begin to kick in. With more money being paid out to service debt than is seen in revenue intake, the social and physical infrastructure of the country will be more seriously imperilled.
Murders and other hard crimes have not abated. There is every indication that these have increased as the criminal elements become more emboldened because of the incapacity of law enforcement to prevent them from carrying out their acts of brutality and mayhem. Criminals no longer operate in the dark; they carry out their deeds in broad daylight and often under the noses of the police.
We have nurtured a brand of criminals that fear neither God nor man - certainly not man. As the kidnapping paradigm suggests, criminals have grown in sophistication and in their organisational ability to elude and outwit the best minds in law enforcement. It is not far-fetched to suggest that the country has become so saturated with criminality that it is fast becoming one vast criminal enterprise. Let us not be mistaken that criminality is to be solely relegated to the elements that Dudley Thompson once described as the "mad dogs of society". One suspects that they are to be found in high places, wear a garb of respectability and expect others of lower status to genuflect to their every demand. If covered spaces could talk, you would be shocked at what is revealed.
So this is not a time for an Opposition party to have as its only reason for existence the need to win elections. Neither is it a time for a government to be dithering or vacillating about the decisive actions to be taken to place the country on a path of economic viability and lasting prosperity. It is sad that our system of politics allows for the perpetuation of the career politician. We would do well to see the backs of some of the present functionaries in the political life of the country, both in the opposition and those in government. There is every indication that some have grown tired and weather-beaten.They would not admit it to themselves, but their thinking is often stale and they do not demonstrate the mental acuity or intellectual energy that are needed to grasp difficult issues, analyse them and place kinetic energy behind them to see them succeed.
And they hog the show. Those who should have long departed the scene hang on for dear life. They do not allow the younger ones the space they need to grow and whenever they do so they seem to begrudge any success that these young Turks achieve. Our entire system of governance needs a colon flush and the sooner the better.
stead6655@aol.com
www.drraulston.com
Raulston Nembhard
Saturday, October 24, 2009
As the government faces mounting difficulties, the Opposition has become very strident in recent times. Never mind that the present administration's problems have been exacerbated by the almost 20 years of decadent governance under the PNP.
If you listen to prominent spokespersons of the Opposition you get the distinct impression that they are either suffering from the onset of Alzheimer's or at any rate from selective amnesia. If you were from another planet you could not believe that they had anything to do with the ramshackle state of the country's social and economic infrastructure and its rapid descent into the bowels of poverty and anarchy. You would think that they have been out of power for at least a decade and that the present woes are a result of their successors' malfeasance, corruption, ineptness and sheer incompetence.
When you live in denial for too long you begin to believe your own lie. One is not saying that the PNP should not criticise the government. As Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition they have a right to keep the government's feet to the fire in the interest of the Jamaican people. By Jamaican standards they are being paid handsomely to do this. But one cannot help hearing the hollow ring of their strident voices for their words lack credibility and are devoid of real meaning. They lack objectivity and bear no resemblance to the truth concerning their own culpability in fostering the mess that the country now finds itself in.
The country deserves better from the Opposition. Waiting to get their hands on the levers of power is not what we need at this time. We need statesmanship and sound leadership from those being paid to serve the country. Having your eyes set only on winning an election does not provide the country with the kind of robust, collaborative effort that is needed in a time of crisis to move the country out of its quagmire. We need reasoned, objective analysis of its problems and cogent and workable ideas as to how it can survive.
And we are in survival mode in Jamaica whether our leaders know this or not. The impending layoffs in the public sector will put a tremendous strain on many households when the layoffs begin to kick in. With more money being paid out to service debt than is seen in revenue intake, the social and physical infrastructure of the country will be more seriously imperilled.
Murders and other hard crimes have not abated. There is every indication that these have increased as the criminal elements become more emboldened because of the incapacity of law enforcement to prevent them from carrying out their acts of brutality and mayhem. Criminals no longer operate in the dark; they carry out their deeds in broad daylight and often under the noses of the police.
We have nurtured a brand of criminals that fear neither God nor man - certainly not man. As the kidnapping paradigm suggests, criminals have grown in sophistication and in their organisational ability to elude and outwit the best minds in law enforcement. It is not far-fetched to suggest that the country has become so saturated with criminality that it is fast becoming one vast criminal enterprise. Let us not be mistaken that criminality is to be solely relegated to the elements that Dudley Thompson once described as the "mad dogs of society". One suspects that they are to be found in high places, wear a garb of respectability and expect others of lower status to genuflect to their every demand. If covered spaces could talk, you would be shocked at what is revealed.
So this is not a time for an Opposition party to have as its only reason for existence the need to win elections. Neither is it a time for a government to be dithering or vacillating about the decisive actions to be taken to place the country on a path of economic viability and lasting prosperity. It is sad that our system of politics allows for the perpetuation of the career politician. We would do well to see the backs of some of the present functionaries in the political life of the country, both in the opposition and those in government. There is every indication that some have grown tired and weather-beaten.They would not admit it to themselves, but their thinking is often stale and they do not demonstrate the mental acuity or intellectual energy that are needed to grasp difficult issues, analyse them and place kinetic energy behind them to see them succeed.
And they hog the show. Those who should have long departed the scene hang on for dear life. They do not allow the younger ones the space they need to grow and whenever they do so they seem to begrudge any success that these young Turks achieve. Our entire system of governance needs a colon flush and the sooner the better.
stead6655@aol.com
www.drraulston.com
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