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Mrs Simpson Miller was out of her depth
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
If we had any doubt that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller was not fit for the job, we no longer do. Her ungracious speech Monday night after her party's defeat at the polls was shocking, to say the least.
Conceding defeat, especially after a bruising contest, is the patriotic duty of great leaders who know that they must send the right signal to a nation that would have been divided by a long and often bitter rivalry.
Although there was only sporadic gunfire in parts of the country, Mrs Simpson Miller's stance could easily have incited greater mayhem, had angry and despondent supporters taken encouragement from her intemperate remarks and run amok.
No one is saying that defeat is sweet. But it is in defeat that one shows the true mettle of one's character. Monday night we saw a woman bereft of the new-found spirituality that she had espoused and one who had lost all care about the safety, security and well-being of the nation.
We wonder now what kind of opposition leader will Mrs Simpson Miller make if she does not understand what it takes to lead a country, as she has clearly shown.
The People's National Party (PNP), one of the truly great parties in the Western Hemisphere, must be extremely worried about its future under someone who has obviously not learnt the craft of statehood, despite her many years in the high echelons of the party and government.
With the nation transfixed on the nail-biting drama that was playing out in the ballot-counting exercise, the prime minister squandered a glorious opportunity to demonstrate that she had real leadership acumen.
The statesmanlike thing to do would have been to concede defeat to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and, perhaps, to say that with so many of the results as close as they were, she expected to seek recounts, which could change the result in favour of her party. The country could have lived with that.
Mrs Simpson Miller's failure is not an issue of gender. We would hardly expect Mrs Maxine Henry-Wilson, the education minister, to behave similarly. Regrettably, we must conclude that the prime minister was out of her depth in the job.
That, of course, is a problem that is best addressed and resolved by the members of the PNP who elected her as leader, albeit with a minority of the votes cast in the presidential race.
Looked at positively, the time spent in opposition will allow the PNP to take a look at itself and its leadership. The party has five years in which to retool and re-image. It was not by any means wiped out by the JLP. In fact, given that it had been in office for an unprecedented four consecutive terms, it did better than should be expected by gaining 28 seats to the JLP's 32, at last count.
The PNP still commands great reserves of intellect among its membership, with members like Dr Peter Phillips, Dr Omar Davies and Mrs Henry-Wilson, among others. They will have to step forward in order to reshape and renew the party in time for the next run at the polls due in 2012.
In the meantime, we need not spell out to Mrs Simpson Miller what is the honourable and sensible thing to do at this time.
If we had any doubt that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller was not fit for the job, we no longer do. Her ungracious speech Monday night after her party's defeat at the polls was shocking, to say the least.
Conceding defeat, especially after a bruising contest, is the patriotic duty of great leaders who know that they must send the right signal to a nation that would have been divided by a long and often bitter rivalry.
Although there was only sporadic gunfire in parts of the country, Mrs Simpson Miller's stance could easily have incited greater mayhem, had angry and despondent supporters taken encouragement from her intemperate remarks and run amok.
No one is saying that defeat is sweet. But it is in defeat that one shows the true mettle of one's character. Monday night we saw a woman bereft of the new-found spirituality that she had espoused and one who had lost all care about the safety, security and well-being of the nation.
We wonder now what kind of opposition leader will Mrs Simpson Miller make if she does not understand what it takes to lead a country, as she has clearly shown.
The People's National Party (PNP), one of the truly great parties in the Western Hemisphere, must be extremely worried about its future under someone who has obviously not learnt the craft of statehood, despite her many years in the high echelons of the party and government.
With the nation transfixed on the nail-biting drama that was playing out in the ballot-counting exercise, the prime minister squandered a glorious opportunity to demonstrate that she had real leadership acumen.
The statesmanlike thing to do would have been to concede defeat to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and, perhaps, to say that with so many of the results as close as they were, she expected to seek recounts, which could change the result in favour of her party. The country could have lived with that.
Mrs Simpson Miller's failure is not an issue of gender. We would hardly expect Mrs Maxine Henry-Wilson, the education minister, to behave similarly. Regrettably, we must conclude that the prime minister was out of her depth in the job.
That, of course, is a problem that is best addressed and resolved by the members of the PNP who elected her as leader, albeit with a minority of the votes cast in the presidential race.
Looked at positively, the time spent in opposition will allow the PNP to take a look at itself and its leadership. The party has five years in which to retool and re-image. It was not by any means wiped out by the JLP. In fact, given that it had been in office for an unprecedented four consecutive terms, it did better than should be expected by gaining 28 seats to the JLP's 32, at last count.
The PNP still commands great reserves of intellect among its membership, with members like Dr Peter Phillips, Dr Omar Davies and Mrs Henry-Wilson, among others. They will have to step forward in order to reshape and renew the party in time for the next run at the polls due in 2012.
In the meantime, we need not spell out to Mrs Simpson Miller what is the honourable and sensible thing to do at this time.
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