Can Portia's speech win the elections?

[Lazie]

Mark Wignall
Thursday, May 03, 2007


In the months following February of last year when the "hope" for the PNP became its "only hope", Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller made history when she, as the first woman leader and the "last chance" for the PNP's fifth term, made her budget presentation.
Mark Wignall
At that time, the wounds in the PNP were still open, sore and oozing nasty stuff. All of the words of acrimony from her colleagues in the PNP, who were supportive of those in the Peter Phillips camp must have been coursing through her as she made that speech. As a result, it was a disaster.
One got the impression that her familiarity with the prepared speech was only a few hours old when she stood up in the House to make her historical address. Plus, it was obvious that some of the important inputs from key ministries were hurriedly patched in because of that very acrimony.
One year has passed and she has grown much more familiar with the top. Much of what she hungered for in the last year - when items were floating around her and embarrassments like the Trafigura revelations propelled her towards finding sanctuary in a quiet corner of Jamaica House - was what was referred to as her "own mandate". In other words, like all Jamaican politicians, she wanted a piece of the landscape to have "Portia" written on it just as Bustamante, Michael and Seaga grew large appetites for seeing their names associated with noted projects in this country.
This time around, it is my view that she is hoping to have the very best of all worlds. First, most of what has taken place in the last year were all projects planned before she assumed office. Second, prior to her "own mandate", the second best was a budget presentation that could be said to have all of her "own mandate" inputs without the realisation of that mandate.
Third, she had the luxury of claiming, if not authorship then certainly stewardship, of all of the plans which were already on stream during the time when she was comfortably taking orders from PJ Patterson and yielding to the PhDs in the PNP Cabinet.
With an election coming up, Portia needed some budget items to have "Portia" written on them, hence over one million people 18 years and under will be exempt from fees in public health institutions, except the University Hospital of the West Indies, and the NHT will improve its access ceiling by $500,000.
SIMPSON MILLER... hoping to have the very best of all worlds
Although there is often a significant disconnect between policy announcements and the reality of them, budget speeches are usually taken by both the PNP and the JLP as "successes".
After-budget confabs in both political parties are most times filled with self-congratulatory sweet talk where willing sychophants tell the politicians how good they were and how they have "upped it" over the other side. All this with whisky, cheap meatballs skewered with toothpicks and a little music to help it down.
And they all sound as if they had just placed a Jamaican satellite in geosynchronous orbit around the earth.
I must confess that I could not go through the entire three and a half hours with the prime minster. I listened from the beginning when she opened her prayer book at minutes after 3:30 pm, stuck with her until 6 o' clock, then revisited her at close to 7:00 pm when she began the second lesson.
In all fairness, she was much better than last year, but then again, it would be quite easy for anyone to be better than the fiasco last year. In her 2007 speech, I had difficulty deciding where the Portia who says she cares for the poor ended and where Portia Simpson Miller, the "only hope" for the PNP began.
In other words, how much of her budget presentation constitutes genuine public policy designed to bring the nation towards growth and development, and what percentage of it is pure electioneering designed to put back this tired, fat administration into a position where it can cement its place in the psyche of every Jamaican - poor, poorer and ignorant.
One million children being given health care free of cost is no laughing matter, and if it is not a gimmick - six months down the road, the reality of health-care delivery on the spot cannot find congruence with the prime minister's announcements - it has the potential to win for the PNP the next elections.
When I voted first, it was for the PNP in 1976. All of the JIS advertisements prior to the December elections were telling us about how the country was doing well and moving ahead. By April 1977, just four months later, the truth came out, and because I felt deceived I decided in that April month not to support the PNP in that dispensation.
Early yesterday morning I went on the road to get a "feel" for Portia's presentation. In a JLP pocket on the Red Hills Road, I was most amazed to hear JLP supporters discussing Portia's speech, with most supporting the part which made reference to one million children to be given free health care.
It seems to me that even if it is raw PNP politics, it has the potential to draw in more for the PNP than it really deserves. After 18 years and three months, the PNP still recognises that the surest way to win an election is to "offer nuff to nuff" just before an election.

[Lazie]

Re: Can Portia's speech win the elections?

One have to admit, it was a slick move by Portia. I recall when she was running for the presidency of the PNP the IJJ interviewed her and asked what were her plans for Jamaica? Her response was she didn't want to leave herself naked at the river.

Well, she knew what she was talking about. The opposition is accused of having no plans, they put it forward and they're now left naked at the river.

[Karl]

Re: Can Portia's speech win the elections?

The politician's dilemma
Michael Burke
Thursday, May 03, 2007


The election fever has started. Up to the 1970s the main way in which political parties got their campaign messages across was by way of street meetings. For the upper and middle classes as well as most intellectuals who do not attend meetings, there were the newspaper advertisements and thought-provoking speeches on radio and television.
Michael Burke

Politicians enter politics to win elections. And to win a Jamaican election there are certain things that they cannot escape, especially the staging of street meetings. Indeed, even if they are sincere and decent, they have to win first before they can do anything. In days gone by, the reality was that the street meeting audience wanted a message communicated in one way while the minority who stayed away from meetings wanted the message given in another way.

Strictly speaking, that reality has not changed, but today the politicians are in a dilemma. They cannot win unless they have their street meetings and speak in one manner that might be considered offensive to those who do not go. But today the TV camera carries the political meetings to the stay-home voters who find the rally-type messages offensive and do not understand how political meetings work.

I am not providing an excuse for the boorish and vulgar behaviour that some politicians have displayed at street meetings. Nor am I excusing the libellous statements punishable by law that have been made at street meetings over the years.

For example, two members of the Jamaica Labour Party were disqualified from contesting seats in the House of Representatives for five years following the 1955 elections. One of them was found guilty of defaming the character of a People's National Party candidate and the other was found guilty because the slander took place on his platform. I will provide no excuse for anything that is wrong.

But in the 2002 general elections, Roger Clarke was castigated for the innocent fun that is part and parcel of such meetings. He said that people have so many cell phones that they can put one phone in one ear and another at the other ear and telephone themselves. He was accused of treating people as idiots by many who have not a clue as to what is expected of politicians at a Jamaican political rally.

And because of the TV cameras, the fun is now being taken away from political rallies. Yes, we need to grow up and move on from that, but we are a far way off from that reality. You may argue that in these days of greater education outreach we would have gone past that.

But our education system is not custom-built for Jamaica's needs. In other words, our education is not built for the customers, who in this case are the students. It is a ready-made, warmed-over version of something that is used in other countries. We need an education system that will take our people out of mental slavery and one symptom of that is the desire of adults who want handouts and want to be treated like children on a Sunday-school picnic.

But employers (read big business), determine the emphasis of our education system. They want English and mathematics from would-be employees, so that is the emphasis in our schools. That is the other subjects not recognised by them. And that is why subjects like moral ethics are for the most part not taught in our schools.

In the meantime, what are the politicians to do? Many small political parties have come up over the years, but none has managed to win seats.

True, in 1944 and in 1949, some independent candidates won seats in the House of Representatives. I suspect that one of the reasons why these parties have failed to win seats is that they failed to stage the sort of rallies that the people want.

We speak of the so-called "wagonists" with derision. But in the politician's reality, it is the wagonists who win elections. The wagonists are people who go from political meetings of both parties to see which one has the biggest crowd to decide on the one they are going to support. This is a reality that simply goes with the territory of Jamaican politics.

This is why both major political parties will spend several million dollars to get the masses out for the public session of their party conferences, which is really a rally. So T-shirts and caps are bought. At roughly $100 per T-shirt and perhaps another $100 for the cap, that alone is more than $2 million if it is done for more than 12,000 people. Add to that the bussing of party supporters from every street, lane, corner and from every nook and cranny of Jamaica.

Then the party faithful are not just going to attend the conference like that. They have to be fed and given "a money". Each, perhaps, $1,000 and a box of beer. Such expenses can be over $30 million just to hold a rally at the so-called public session of the party conference. "We need to get away from that," you say. But political parties that do not do this will not win.

[Muadib]

Re: Can Portia's speech win the elections?

The politician's dilemma
Michael Burke
Thursday, May 03, 2007


The election fever has started. Up to the 1970s the main way in which political parties got their campaign messages across was by way of street meetings. For the upper and middle classes as well as most intellectuals who do not attend meetings, there were the newspaper advertisements and thought-provoking speeches on radio and television.
Michael Burke

Politicians enter politics to win elections. And to win a Jamaican election there are certain things that they cannot escape, especially the staging of street meetings. Indeed, even if they are sincere and decent, they have to win first before they can do anything. In days gone by, the reality was that the street meeting audience wanted a message communicated in one way while the minority who stayed away from meetings wanted the message given in another way.

Strictly speaking, that reality has not changed, but today the politicians are in a dilemma. They cannot win unless they have their street meetings and speak in one manner that might be considered offensive to those who do not go. But today the TV camera carries the political meetings to the stay-home voters who find the rally-type messages offensive and do not understand how political meetings work.

I am not providing an excuse for the boorish and vulgar behaviour that some politicians have displayed at street meetings. Nor am I excusing the libellous statements punishable by law that have been made at street meetings over the years.

For example, two members of the Jamaica Labour Party were disqualified from contesting seats in the House of Representatives for five years following the 1955 elections. One of them was found guilty of defaming the character of a People's National Party candidate and the other was found guilty because the slander took place on his platform. I will provide no excuse for anything that is wrong.

But in the 2002 general elections, Roger Clarke was castigated for the innocent fun that is part and parcel of such meetings. He said that people have so many cell phones that they can put one phone in one ear and another at the other ear and telephone themselves. He was accused of treating people as idiots by many who have not a clue as to what is expected of politicians at a Jamaican political rally.

And because of the TV cameras, the fun is now being taken away from political rallies. Yes, we need to grow up and move on from that, but we are a far way off from that reality. You may argue that in these days of greater education outreach we would have gone past that.

But our education system is not custom-built for Jamaica's needs. In other words, our education is not built for the customers, who in this case are the students. It is a ready-made, warmed-over version of something that is used in other countries. We need an education system that will take our people out of mental slavery and one symptom of that is the desire of adults who want handouts and want to be treated like children on a Sunday-school picnic.

But employers (read big business), determine the emphasis of our education system. They want English and mathematics from would-be employees, so that is the emphasis in our schools. That is the other subjects not recognised by them. And that is why subjects like moral ethics are for the most part not taught in our schools.

In the meantime, what are the politicians to do? Many small political parties have come up over the years, but none has managed to win seats.

True, in 1944 and in 1949, some independent candidates won seats in the House of Representatives. I suspect that one of the reasons why these parties have failed to win seats is that they failed to stage the sort of rallies that the people want.

We speak of the so-called "wagonists" with derision. But in the politician's reality, it is the wagonists who win elections. The wagonists are people who go from political meetings of both parties to see which one has the biggest crowd to decide on the one they are going to support. This is a reality that simply goes with the territory of Jamaican politics.

This is why both major political parties will spend several million dollars to get the masses out for the public session of their party conferences, which is really a rally. So T-shirts and caps are bought. At roughly $100 per T-shirt and perhaps another $100 for the cap, that alone is more than $2 million if it is done for more than 12,000 people. Add to that the bussing of party supporters from every street, lane, corner and from every nook and cranny of Jamaica.

Then the party faithful are not just going to attend the conference like that. They have to be fed and given "a money". Each, perhaps, $1,000 and a box of beer. Such expenses can be over $30 million just to hold a rally at the so-called public session of the party conference. "We need to get away from that," you say. But political parties that do not do this will not win.

Is the inference that the presentation yesterday by Portia was a glorified Street Meeting ?