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EDITORIAL: Refashioning Mr. Golding's premiershipPublished: Sunday | November 22, 2009
Conventional political wisdom is that Bruce Golding's premiership is constrained by the thin majority he enjoys in Parliament and the potential consequences in this scenario of revolt by even a handful of his MPs. On the face of it, this is true.
Except that this analysis does not factor sufficiently Mr Golding's undisputed leadership of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the enormous constitutional authority he wields as prime minister of Jamaica. Indeed, those in the JLP with pretensions to Mr Golding's job andwould have the gumption to challenge him know that neither the party nor Jamaica would have them. And there is, too, the power of the prime minister, at his will, to dissolve the Government.
The point we make is that Mr Golding need not feel himself hemmed in by the JLP's four-seat majority in the House, or that his government is constrained from bold and difficult undertakings, in responding to Jamaica's current economic crisis. What is important is for Mr Golding to have the conviction that he can make a difference and that his course of action is necessary and right.
In essence, the hope is for the rediscovery of the Bruce Golding of 1995 to 2007, who championed big ideas, eschewed narrow partisanship, and made the case that his wish for governmental power was to reverse the obviously wrong political route that Jamaica had travelled for too long. And he would be quick and decisive about having no intention to linger and become enmeshed in the trappings of office.
draw red line
It is this Bruce Golding who we hope will turn up at the National Arena in St Andrew today for the public session of the annual conference of the JLP, when he will make the traditional leader's address to delegates and party supporters. The circumstances demand that Mr Golding transcend the JLP, speak to Jamaica, and use the opportunity to reset his premiership.
In other words, Mr Golding should, figuratively, draw a red line under the previous two years, assume that his term of office is only now beginning and that he has only three years to complete his agenda. He should bank on no more.
If that is Mr Golding's mindset, he can be radical going forward, starting today, by giving Jamaicans the raw truth about the state of the economy and the points on which negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a US$1.2 billion [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]loan[/color][/color] have become stuck. He must be frank about the policy options and the potential impact of each of these.
The PM must be unvarnished in setting out clear expectations and a definitive timetable for the reform and retrenchment of the public sector, which in current configuration and size is inefficient and unaffordable. In this regard, he should apologise to the country and reverse his reappointment of Michael Stern as junior minister for industry, commerce and investment.
Mr Golding must also report on the national engagement/social-partnership talks
, where we expect all parties will negotiate their contributions to the process of adjustment, as well as fashiona broad consensus on long-term economic policy. Mr Golding must also re-embrace his stance against 'garrison' politics, making it clear, and demonstrably so, that he is ready to allow full, unfettered reach by law-enforcement agencies, locally or from partner states, to those whose action diminish law and order.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.
