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Jamaica's democracy in peril
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, October 29, 2009
If we are not careful, one day we will wake up and realise that it does not make sense to vote at all, because the result in every single constituency has been fixed.
MICHAEL BURKE
Before a single vote has been cast, we know the results of most seats in the Corporate Area and some in the rural areas. Both major political parties are guilty of packing constituencies with supporters under the guise of a need for housing although there is a National Housing Trust. As Parliament studies a new proposed bill of rights and freedoms, this should be taken into account.
This time 10 years ago when the People's National Party was in power and PJ Patterson was prime minister, the topic being discussed was the plan to use Hope Gardens for housing. Colin Campbell was then the MP for Eastern St Andrew. On election day, December 18, 1997, Campbell won but received less than 50 per cent of the vote that was split between the Jamaica Labour Party's Dr Percival Broderick (now deceased) and the National Democratic Movement's Wentworth Charles.
The choice of Hope Gardens appeared to be an attempt to shore up the PNP's chances in Eastern St Andrew. I opposed the plan on the programme, "As I see it" on Irie FM , and I opposed it in the Jamaica Observer. I missed the meeting called to protest against the housing plan for Hope Gardens only because it was called on the day of my father's funeral in November 1999. But wisdom prevailed and Hope Gardens was saved. Instead, the houses were built at Long Mountain in the same constituency, although not finished in time to stop Campbell from losing to the JLP's St Aubyn Bartlett on October 16, 2002.
About two months ago, Deacon Ronnie Thwaites was on television showing the squalid living conditions that some endure in Allman Town in his Central Kingston constituency. Of course, he was doing what any good MP should do, but isn't Allman Town overcrowded? Why not re-house them elsewhere like Portmore? The expected answer is the inconvenience of getting to school and work from Portmore. But 80 or 90 per cent of all Portmore residents commute to both work and school in the Corporate Area.
THWAITES... inherited the constituency in its garrisoned state
I do not know the political allegiance, if any, of the people whom Thwaites publicised, but Allman Town is a strong PNP area while Southside in the same constituency is a strong JLP area. The pattern from 1989 in Central Kingston is that the PNP wins because the population of Allman Town is greater than Southside. As a result, Central Kingston is one of many that is ticked off beforehand as a PNP seat. So would any PNP representative deplete the population of Allman Town by re-housing supporters outside the constituency? To be fair to Thwaites, he inherited the constituency in its garrisoned state.
In recent weeks there was a news report about plans to bring squatters into Albion, St Thomas, to shore up the political prospects of the JLP in that constituency which is represented by James Robertson. After 33 years of the National Housing Trust, why do people feel forced to squat? It seems as if it is nothing but the same old story and if it is allowed to happen, one more seat will be ticked off as having been already won by a certain party candidate, this time for the JLP.
I am not "taking up" for Ronnie Thwaites although we are both Roman Catholics, nor am I "taking up" for James Robertson who is my first cousin. It has never been my style in 21 years of being a columnist to "curry favour" anyone despite the baseless allegations to the contrary by an organised response team who I am told are paid by their political bosses to respond to me online. I keep telling you, I am not a politician like my brother or my first cousin and that I am not for "he, she or the old lady". Yes, I am a "Norman Manleyist" but I see no real difference between the PNP and JLP.
This awful practice of "garrisonising" constituencies has to end sometime. And there is, to my mind, at least one way to stop the "garrisonising" of constituencies. The Westminster model, which allows the party that wins the most seats to form the government, is flawed. All it does is to encourage candidates to pack the constituencies with their own voters. And if these garrison voters are issued guns, then it is very difficult to take them back after the election and the mayhem continues.
I am in favour of proportional representation in Jamaica. If the winning political party is determined by the number of votes cast rather than the number of seats won, it will at least put an end to a system destroying our democracy and our liberty. When I wrote for the now defunct Jamaica Record, I suggested a mix of representational politics and proportional representation. It is not a perfect system, but if politicians know that stuffing their constituencies with new voters will not give them a majority of seats to form the government they will stop doing it. It will certainly be a way to preserve our democracy.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...Y_IN_PERIL.asp
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, October 29, 2009
If we are not careful, one day we will wake up and realise that it does not make sense to vote at all, because the result in every single constituency has been fixed.
MICHAEL BURKE
Before a single vote has been cast, we know the results of most seats in the Corporate Area and some in the rural areas. Both major political parties are guilty of packing constituencies with supporters under the guise of a need for housing although there is a National Housing Trust. As Parliament studies a new proposed bill of rights and freedoms, this should be taken into account.
This time 10 years ago when the People's National Party was in power and PJ Patterson was prime minister, the topic being discussed was the plan to use Hope Gardens for housing. Colin Campbell was then the MP for Eastern St Andrew. On election day, December 18, 1997, Campbell won but received less than 50 per cent of the vote that was split between the Jamaica Labour Party's Dr Percival Broderick (now deceased) and the National Democratic Movement's Wentworth Charles.
The choice of Hope Gardens appeared to be an attempt to shore up the PNP's chances in Eastern St Andrew. I opposed the plan on the programme, "As I see it" on Irie FM , and I opposed it in the Jamaica Observer. I missed the meeting called to protest against the housing plan for Hope Gardens only because it was called on the day of my father's funeral in November 1999. But wisdom prevailed and Hope Gardens was saved. Instead, the houses were built at Long Mountain in the same constituency, although not finished in time to stop Campbell from losing to the JLP's St Aubyn Bartlett on October 16, 2002.
About two months ago, Deacon Ronnie Thwaites was on television showing the squalid living conditions that some endure in Allman Town in his Central Kingston constituency. Of course, he was doing what any good MP should do, but isn't Allman Town overcrowded? Why not re-house them elsewhere like Portmore? The expected answer is the inconvenience of getting to school and work from Portmore. But 80 or 90 per cent of all Portmore residents commute to both work and school in the Corporate Area.
THWAITES... inherited the constituency in its garrisoned state
I do not know the political allegiance, if any, of the people whom Thwaites publicised, but Allman Town is a strong PNP area while Southside in the same constituency is a strong JLP area. The pattern from 1989 in Central Kingston is that the PNP wins because the population of Allman Town is greater than Southside. As a result, Central Kingston is one of many that is ticked off beforehand as a PNP seat. So would any PNP representative deplete the population of Allman Town by re-housing supporters outside the constituency? To be fair to Thwaites, he inherited the constituency in its garrisoned state.
In recent weeks there was a news report about plans to bring squatters into Albion, St Thomas, to shore up the political prospects of the JLP in that constituency which is represented by James Robertson. After 33 years of the National Housing Trust, why do people feel forced to squat? It seems as if it is nothing but the same old story and if it is allowed to happen, one more seat will be ticked off as having been already won by a certain party candidate, this time for the JLP.
I am not "taking up" for Ronnie Thwaites although we are both Roman Catholics, nor am I "taking up" for James Robertson who is my first cousin. It has never been my style in 21 years of being a columnist to "curry favour" anyone despite the baseless allegations to the contrary by an organised response team who I am told are paid by their political bosses to respond to me online. I keep telling you, I am not a politician like my brother or my first cousin and that I am not for "he, she or the old lady". Yes, I am a "Norman Manleyist" but I see no real difference between the PNP and JLP.
This awful practice of "garrisonising" constituencies has to end sometime. And there is, to my mind, at least one way to stop the "garrisonising" of constituencies. The Westminster model, which allows the party that wins the most seats to form the government, is flawed. All it does is to encourage candidates to pack the constituencies with their own voters. And if these garrison voters are issued guns, then it is very difficult to take them back after the election and the mayhem continues.
I am in favour of proportional representation in Jamaica. If the winning political party is determined by the number of votes cast rather than the number of seats won, it will at least put an end to a system destroying our democracy and our liberty. When I wrote for the now defunct Jamaica Record, I suggested a mix of representational politics and proportional representation. It is not a perfect system, but if politicians know that stuffing their constituencies with new voters will not give them a majority of seats to form the government they will stop doing it. It will certainly be a way to preserve our democracy.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...Y_IN_PERIL.asp
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