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Time for political renewal
Published: Tuesday | May 18, 2010
As the latest government scandal unfolds, this time including Prime Minister Bruce Golding, some Jamaicans are calling for a renewal of the political process.
Confidence in the ruling Jamaica Labour Party appears to have weakened, and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) also seems to know that the public has some amount of 'phobia' towards it following its 18-year stint, which ended in 2007.
On Sunday, PNP leader Portia Simpson Miller said, "We also know that some of these Jamaicans are not happy with us as a party either."
Convener of Families Against State Terrorism, Yvonne MCalla Sobers, whose group called for the resignation of the PM, said Jamaicans are at the point when they are past political apathy and are now impatient and outraged with the system.
"There is going to have be a change. We need cool heads among us to direct change. It cannot go on as it is, the whole system as it is, with people going to Parliament to feather their own nest, that cannot continue," she said.
McCalla Sobers said while a coalition of the two parties was a workable solution, there needs to be constant monitoring.
A young woman, who started the trending topic on Twitter called '#blamebruce', said she wants to do away with both parties.
"Honestly, I have never lived anywhere but Jamaica, and I have never really seen it better. I am 21 today and I have never had a year where I'm proud to be Jamaican," she said.
Dedicated tweets
The Twitter site '#blamebruce', which has snowballed into a phenomenon, now has an over 3,000-member Facebook group and a website dedicated to tweets blaming Bruce Golding,
The young woman, who refused to give her name out of fear of retaliation, believes Jamaica should not have had independence, based on the subsequent state of the nation.
Junior Rose, president of the Jamaica Association of Young Professionals, said this crisis in government means the entire system which now exists needs to change and that politicians need to be accountable.
Rose says the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips conundrum has brought to the fore the issue of separation of powers between the party and the Government.
"There needs to be a bottom-up approach, not a top-down approach. We need constitutional reform. We need certain changes in the Constitution. We need something other than where one person can make a life-changing decision to affect three million people. The system as it is cannot be good for governance. What we need is consti-tutional reform that is similar or parallel to the United States system."
mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead3.html
Published: Tuesday | May 18, 2010
As the latest government scandal unfolds, this time including Prime Minister Bruce Golding, some Jamaicans are calling for a renewal of the political process.
Confidence in the ruling Jamaica Labour Party appears to have weakened, and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) also seems to know that the public has some amount of 'phobia' towards it following its 18-year stint, which ended in 2007.
On Sunday, PNP leader Portia Simpson Miller said, "We also know that some of these Jamaicans are not happy with us as a party either."
Convener of Families Against State Terrorism, Yvonne MCalla Sobers, whose group called for the resignation of the PM, said Jamaicans are at the point when they are past political apathy and are now impatient and outraged with the system.
"There is going to have be a change. We need cool heads among us to direct change. It cannot go on as it is, the whole system as it is, with people going to Parliament to feather their own nest, that cannot continue," she said.
McCalla Sobers said while a coalition of the two parties was a workable solution, there needs to be constant monitoring.
A young woman, who started the trending topic on Twitter called '#blamebruce', said she wants to do away with both parties.
"Honestly, I have never lived anywhere but Jamaica, and I have never really seen it better. I am 21 today and I have never had a year where I'm proud to be Jamaican," she said.
Dedicated tweets
The Twitter site '#blamebruce', which has snowballed into a phenomenon, now has an over 3,000-member Facebook group and a website dedicated to tweets blaming Bruce Golding,
The young woman, who refused to give her name out of fear of retaliation, believes Jamaica should not have had independence, based on the subsequent state of the nation.
Junior Rose, president of the Jamaica Association of Young Professionals, said this crisis in government means the entire system which now exists needs to change and that politicians need to be accountable.
Rose says the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips conundrum has brought to the fore the issue of separation of powers between the party and the Government.
"There needs to be a bottom-up approach, not a top-down approach. We need constitutional reform. We need certain changes in the Constitution. We need something other than where one person can make a life-changing decision to affect three million people. The system as it is cannot be good for governance. What we need is consti-tutional reform that is similar or parallel to the United States system."
mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead3.html