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A victory for Jamaica
Rev Mervin Stoddart
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Preliminary results from the September 3 general election gave Bruce Golding's Jamaica Labour Party 32 seats and 28 to Portia Simpson Miller's People's National Party. It seems therefore that the JLP was victorious and Golding will be the next prime minister.
However, anyone who carefully followed the process from the time Portia was elected PNP leader and PM successor to PJ Patterson up to election night would conclude that the 2007 election results were more a victory for Jamaica than for the JLP and Bruce Golding. Nonetheless, congratulations are in order for Mr Golding and the JLP.
The closeness of the results in terms of seats sent a message that Jamaicans desired cooperation between both major parties and among all the elected officials as the country moves forward. It was therefore like a breath of fresh air to hear the very statesmanlike victory speech given by Mr Golding on election night and it was very disappointing to hear Mrs Simpson Miller's speech as she refused to concede defeat. Golding declared constructive engagement between the parties and a united Jamaica tackling the country's problems. Given the historical political tribalism besetting the nation, Golding's declaration was a victory for Jamaica.
Incumbent members of parliament who seemingly worked hard for their constituents were apparently rewarded with majority votes, despite the national popular vote swing from PNP (402,275) to JLP (405,215) compared to the 2002 elections (PNP: 383,887; JLP: 346,860). Two examples were North-East Manchester: Audley Shaw (JLP) with 8,122 votes, over Paul Lyn's (PNP) 6,909 votes; and Central Westmoreland: Roger Clarke (PNP) with 10,472 votes over Russell Hammond's (JLP) 8,563 votes. Although some lazy incumbents might have won and a few hard workers lost their seats, the overall results suggested that the parliamentary system does work in Jamaica.
Some results underscored the garrison problem that is wreaking havoc with Jamaica's political system. For example, in South-West St Andrew, Portia Simpson Miller (PNP) won 9,456 votes over Garnett Reid's (JLP) 614 votes, while in Western Kingston, Bruce Golding (JLP) got 10,202 votes against Joseph Witter's (PNP) 1,653 votes. Portia's 96 per cent victory was the highest of all and Golding's 86 per cent win was the third highest. Something is wrong here, given the modal single-digit margin win throughout the island, that is, between 2 per cent to 9 per cent wins.
Now is the time to dismantle these garrisons. It seems that the incumbent representatives, being leaders of their respective party, would have won anyway, even if not by so many votes. The second highest victory was in South St Andrew, where Omar Davies (PNP) got 8,378 votes over Dennis Messias' (JLP) 849 votes, a 91 per cent margin. If Bruce Golding wants to leave Jamaica a vital, positive legacy, let him lead the charge in dismantling garrisons, as he follows through on his hopeful statements on this issue made in the national debate.
When garrisons go, Jamaicans will get more of their politicians to work hard for those who elected them. That notion seems to be in place in Western St Mary, famous for having voted for the winning party in every election since 1944 when all Jamaicans gained adult suffrage. This time Bobby Montaque (JLP) got 9,033 votes over Delano Franklin's (PNP) 8,217 votes. Although Franklin was a very visible leader in the PNP, the majority there voted for national change, and that suggests that many Jamaicans take a mature approach in exercising their franchise. If only the current bunch of 60 newly elected MPs could vow to cut out tribalism, discard buying of votes, and help more Jamaicans develop the capacity to judge politicians on the important issues affecting nation building, then Jamaica would have won a resounding victory.
Now that the majority of Jamaicans have spoken through their ballots, let all politicians begin to clean up the political process by ridding their constituencies of bullets and other weapons of destruction and by dismantling all their systems of voter fraud, pork-barrel contracts and other forms of corruption. Mr Golding, in both the debates and his victory speech, seemed ready to take this high road to make Jamaica better.
Where standeth the PNP? Portia's non-conceding victory speech was a terrible omen from the PNP and a huge disappointment to members of the diaspora with whom I have spoken. Personally, I will support Prime Minister-designate Bruce Golding in every way possible as he works to uplift Jamaica, now that the people have spoken at the polls. Jamaica a fi wi country and if Bruce a di driver, den we mus all board di bus, unless or until di driver get off course. Congratulations to all the winning politicians but let us all "big up" Jamaica.
Rev Mervin Stoddart is a freelance writer out of Florida. INMerv@hotmail.com.
Rev Mervin Stoddart
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Preliminary results from the September 3 general election gave Bruce Golding's Jamaica Labour Party 32 seats and 28 to Portia Simpson Miller's People's National Party. It seems therefore that the JLP was victorious and Golding will be the next prime minister.
However, anyone who carefully followed the process from the time Portia was elected PNP leader and PM successor to PJ Patterson up to election night would conclude that the 2007 election results were more a victory for Jamaica than for the JLP and Bruce Golding. Nonetheless, congratulations are in order for Mr Golding and the JLP.
The closeness of the results in terms of seats sent a message that Jamaicans desired cooperation between both major parties and among all the elected officials as the country moves forward. It was therefore like a breath of fresh air to hear the very statesmanlike victory speech given by Mr Golding on election night and it was very disappointing to hear Mrs Simpson Miller's speech as she refused to concede defeat. Golding declared constructive engagement between the parties and a united Jamaica tackling the country's problems. Given the historical political tribalism besetting the nation, Golding's declaration was a victory for Jamaica.
Incumbent members of parliament who seemingly worked hard for their constituents were apparently rewarded with majority votes, despite the national popular vote swing from PNP (402,275) to JLP (405,215) compared to the 2002 elections (PNP: 383,887; JLP: 346,860). Two examples were North-East Manchester: Audley Shaw (JLP) with 8,122 votes, over Paul Lyn's (PNP) 6,909 votes; and Central Westmoreland: Roger Clarke (PNP) with 10,472 votes over Russell Hammond's (JLP) 8,563 votes. Although some lazy incumbents might have won and a few hard workers lost their seats, the overall results suggested that the parliamentary system does work in Jamaica.
Some results underscored the garrison problem that is wreaking havoc with Jamaica's political system. For example, in South-West St Andrew, Portia Simpson Miller (PNP) won 9,456 votes over Garnett Reid's (JLP) 614 votes, while in Western Kingston, Bruce Golding (JLP) got 10,202 votes against Joseph Witter's (PNP) 1,653 votes. Portia's 96 per cent victory was the highest of all and Golding's 86 per cent win was the third highest. Something is wrong here, given the modal single-digit margin win throughout the island, that is, between 2 per cent to 9 per cent wins.
Now is the time to dismantle these garrisons. It seems that the incumbent representatives, being leaders of their respective party, would have won anyway, even if not by so many votes. The second highest victory was in South St Andrew, where Omar Davies (PNP) got 8,378 votes over Dennis Messias' (JLP) 849 votes, a 91 per cent margin. If Bruce Golding wants to leave Jamaica a vital, positive legacy, let him lead the charge in dismantling garrisons, as he follows through on his hopeful statements on this issue made in the national debate.
When garrisons go, Jamaicans will get more of their politicians to work hard for those who elected them. That notion seems to be in place in Western St Mary, famous for having voted for the winning party in every election since 1944 when all Jamaicans gained adult suffrage. This time Bobby Montaque (JLP) got 9,033 votes over Delano Franklin's (PNP) 8,217 votes. Although Franklin was a very visible leader in the PNP, the majority there voted for national change, and that suggests that many Jamaicans take a mature approach in exercising their franchise. If only the current bunch of 60 newly elected MPs could vow to cut out tribalism, discard buying of votes, and help more Jamaicans develop the capacity to judge politicians on the important issues affecting nation building, then Jamaica would have won a resounding victory.
Now that the majority of Jamaicans have spoken through their ballots, let all politicians begin to clean up the political process by ridding their constituencies of bullets and other weapons of destruction and by dismantling all their systems of voter fraud, pork-barrel contracts and other forms of corruption. Mr Golding, in both the debates and his victory speech, seemed ready to take this high road to make Jamaica better.
Where standeth the PNP? Portia's non-conceding victory speech was a terrible omen from the PNP and a huge disappointment to members of the diaspora with whom I have spoken. Personally, I will support Prime Minister-designate Bruce Golding in every way possible as he works to uplift Jamaica, now that the people have spoken at the polls. Jamaica a fi wi country and if Bruce a di driver, den we mus all board di bus, unless or until di driver get off course. Congratulations to all the winning politicians but let us all "big up" Jamaica.
Rev Mervin Stoddart is a freelance writer out of Florida. INMerv@hotmail.com.