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What is the PNP afraid of?
Mark Wignall
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Something died in this country in the 1970s and it is only now, with the smell assailing us, that we have come to the realisation that the putrid corpse is still with us. At a time when much was promised in terms of social re-engineering, a set of seemingly bright men and women arrived on the political scene and, operating under the leadership wizardry of Michael Manley, they were able to convince themselves that we would carry them on our back for life.
The premise is, politicians are our servants and we the people are the ones who call the shots, hiring them and firing them. When Michael Manley imposed "democratic socialism" on us in 1974, those in the lunatic left of the PNP and others like Trevor Munroe as head of the Workers' Party of Jamaica (WPJ) saw the USSR as the epitome of the "new age" and set about poisoning the mind of the educated gullible and those among the ignorant who made themselves willing guinea pigs for the politicians and their nefarious experiments.
To people like DK Duncan and Trevor Munroe of the 1970s, the "capitalist" was the enemy beating down the "glorious" worker. In 2007 these very men, both of whom are within striking distance of an electoral loss in their seats, the capitalist is the money which oils the new dispensation. Unfortunately for them and others of their ilk, we have just begun to smell the thing which was killed in the 1970s.
The prime minister is a product of the 1970s. She was in politics when her heroic mentor, the late Tony Spaulding, was supervising the destruction of residents of Rema, being very aware when thugs attached to the housing ministry were throwing out refrigerators and beds and stoves from the windows of high-rises, all because the residents were supporters of the JLP.
The thing which died in the 1970s was the promise of giving real power to the people. The PNP bastardised and destroyed that process on the ground but in the process put forward presentable faces and acceptable sound bites to the public. It was at a time when the politics of deception was at its highest.
Now we have a prime minister who is really not very far-removed from the politics which brought her fully into the public domain. At one level she is still the firebrand, screaming from the podium and operating at street level. At the other level, she presents to the nation a notion, mythical in the extreme, that she cares for the poor, is aware of their plight and is fully conversant with the solutions to their problems.
In reality, she operates the worst-run constituency in Jamaica. I dare anyone in the PNP to present me with stats and facts on any other constituency where the residents are in a worse state than those living in South-West St Andrew.
Since she has stated that one does not have to be a resident of a constituency to run one (I agree with her), why did she not place beauty queen Lisa Hanna in South-West St Andrew and make herself available to the "grateful" people in South-East St Ann?
Certainly, with her track record in South-West St Andrew, residents of Moneague, Bensonton, Golden Grove, Prickley Pole, Douglas Castle, Clapham, Hopewell, Poinciana Tree, etc, would be forever in her debt if she could bring to them the level of development she has wrought in South-West St Andrew in her over 30 years there.
The real truth of the matter is, the prime minister has been given charge of a country called Jamaica (land we love), and outside of dancing on a PNP platform and making nonsense noises about "the little man in green" and telling Harbour View residents that she will be making beds available (in the proposed new hospital in the west) for mothers of sick babies, she really does not have a clue about running this country.
So she beats up on the media, on a pollster like myself, who insists that my numbers are indicative of a JLP win at the next elections and on trivia like JLP television ads.
The fact is, most of the PNP MPs will be losing their seats at the next general elections. The PNP knows it. The PNP pollster knows it. And, the Gleaner ought to know it, that is, if the polls have been submitted. Too many of my anti-Portia sources in the PNP have told me of polls indicating serious problems in safe PNP seats. All of this does not ring true with a PNP lead at the national level. Something is being hidden.
The "servants" have become our slave masters, and like residents of South-East St Ann, we had better "shut our damn mouths".
Who slapped KD Knight?
After walking up on stage and giving the former minister of national security KD Knight a slap on his upper body, many of us are pleased that the matter ended without serious injury. After the man was beaten, the resident of Jackson (just below Sligoville), and former patient of Bellevue Hospital ran to the Bog Walk Police Station for his own safety.
What was the name he gave to those in charge at the police station?
My missing Sunday column
I did not submit a column for publication last Sunday. I owe my readers an apology. In this time of political intrigue, plots and counterplots, one person called an editor at the Observer and told him that he has it on "good authority" that Mark Wignall "will no longer be writing for the Observer".
Damn it! I am always the last to know.
The PNP spin doctors then began to circulate rumours that a simple matter like a column not written was a part of a grand plot. The fun continues.
The truth is, the PNP is very afraid of the numbers coming in to it by Bill Johnson. "It nuh pretty," said one of my sources. In the interim, the PNP spinners have to be weaving all sorts of tales as it prepares to buy time.
The other fact is, time is running out, and the national fallout from the South East St Ann debacle will make even the May poll findings seem tame by comparison. Follow this spot for additional findings.
observemark@gmail.com
Mark Wignall
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Something died in this country in the 1970s and it is only now, with the smell assailing us, that we have come to the realisation that the putrid corpse is still with us. At a time when much was promised in terms of social re-engineering, a set of seemingly bright men and women arrived on the political scene and, operating under the leadership wizardry of Michael Manley, they were able to convince themselves that we would carry them on our back for life.
The premise is, politicians are our servants and we the people are the ones who call the shots, hiring them and firing them. When Michael Manley imposed "democratic socialism" on us in 1974, those in the lunatic left of the PNP and others like Trevor Munroe as head of the Workers' Party of Jamaica (WPJ) saw the USSR as the epitome of the "new age" and set about poisoning the mind of the educated gullible and those among the ignorant who made themselves willing guinea pigs for the politicians and their nefarious experiments.
To people like DK Duncan and Trevor Munroe of the 1970s, the "capitalist" was the enemy beating down the "glorious" worker. In 2007 these very men, both of whom are within striking distance of an electoral loss in their seats, the capitalist is the money which oils the new dispensation. Unfortunately for them and others of their ilk, we have just begun to smell the thing which was killed in the 1970s.
The prime minister is a product of the 1970s. She was in politics when her heroic mentor, the late Tony Spaulding, was supervising the destruction of residents of Rema, being very aware when thugs attached to the housing ministry were throwing out refrigerators and beds and stoves from the windows of high-rises, all because the residents were supporters of the JLP.
The thing which died in the 1970s was the promise of giving real power to the people. The PNP bastardised and destroyed that process on the ground but in the process put forward presentable faces and acceptable sound bites to the public. It was at a time when the politics of deception was at its highest.
Now we have a prime minister who is really not very far-removed from the politics which brought her fully into the public domain. At one level she is still the firebrand, screaming from the podium and operating at street level. At the other level, she presents to the nation a notion, mythical in the extreme, that she cares for the poor, is aware of their plight and is fully conversant with the solutions to their problems.
In reality, she operates the worst-run constituency in Jamaica. I dare anyone in the PNP to present me with stats and facts on any other constituency where the residents are in a worse state than those living in South-West St Andrew.
Since she has stated that one does not have to be a resident of a constituency to run one (I agree with her), why did she not place beauty queen Lisa Hanna in South-West St Andrew and make herself available to the "grateful" people in South-East St Ann?
Certainly, with her track record in South-West St Andrew, residents of Moneague, Bensonton, Golden Grove, Prickley Pole, Douglas Castle, Clapham, Hopewell, Poinciana Tree, etc, would be forever in her debt if she could bring to them the level of development she has wrought in South-West St Andrew in her over 30 years there.
The real truth of the matter is, the prime minister has been given charge of a country called Jamaica (land we love), and outside of dancing on a PNP platform and making nonsense noises about "the little man in green" and telling Harbour View residents that she will be making beds available (in the proposed new hospital in the west) for mothers of sick babies, she really does not have a clue about running this country.
So she beats up on the media, on a pollster like myself, who insists that my numbers are indicative of a JLP win at the next elections and on trivia like JLP television ads.
The fact is, most of the PNP MPs will be losing their seats at the next general elections. The PNP knows it. The PNP pollster knows it. And, the Gleaner ought to know it, that is, if the polls have been submitted. Too many of my anti-Portia sources in the PNP have told me of polls indicating serious problems in safe PNP seats. All of this does not ring true with a PNP lead at the national level. Something is being hidden.
The "servants" have become our slave masters, and like residents of South-East St Ann, we had better "shut our damn mouths".
Who slapped KD Knight?
After walking up on stage and giving the former minister of national security KD Knight a slap on his upper body, many of us are pleased that the matter ended without serious injury. After the man was beaten, the resident of Jackson (just below Sligoville), and former patient of Bellevue Hospital ran to the Bog Walk Police Station for his own safety.
What was the name he gave to those in charge at the police station?
My missing Sunday column
I did not submit a column for publication last Sunday. I owe my readers an apology. In this time of political intrigue, plots and counterplots, one person called an editor at the Observer and told him that he has it on "good authority" that Mark Wignall "will no longer be writing for the Observer".
Damn it! I am always the last to know.
The PNP spin doctors then began to circulate rumours that a simple matter like a column not written was a part of a grand plot. The fun continues.
The truth is, the PNP is very afraid of the numbers coming in to it by Bill Johnson. "It nuh pretty," said one of my sources. In the interim, the PNP spinners have to be weaving all sorts of tales as it prepares to buy time.
The other fact is, time is running out, and the national fallout from the South East St Ann debacle will make even the May poll findings seem tame by comparison. Follow this spot for additional findings.
observemark@gmail.com
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