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Nightmare on Duke Street
published: Sunday | September 23, 2007
Orville Taylor
I have a dream ... Let me stop, because the last public orator to say those lines was assassinated. Still, there are talks of nightmares. Indeed, it would be quite horrific to dream of sharing my bed or night space with any of the 60 Members of Parliament. Well, exclude Lisa Hanna and perhaps Shahine Robinson if she reverts to Fahkourie, her maiden name.
In any event, as usual, there is a war of words between the leaders of both political parties. Aren't you really exhausted by the bickering and the wasteful drivel when we have a country to run? Now, it is the turn of the Labourites to face the music and as with the biased hypocrites who constantly apologised for Portia's shortcomings during her first few weeks in office, we are now hearing, "Give Bruce a chance to settle." Sorry! Not in your dreams, because it is sauce for the goose and sauce for the gander.
Call a spade a spade
In fact, since Bruce is the one with the on-campus degree who went to the speech capital of high schools in the 1960s, his public utterances must be held to a higher level of scrutiny. Call a spade a spade. Most people doubt Portia's ability to make responsible speeches and being the demagogue that she is, her trademark is to speak first, then think afterwards. Therefore, he is not expected to make the same faux pas as she does. I listened to her speak and it was as if I were dreaming that she was still in charge.
Bruce dreamt that the ripe oranges having been picked, he would now see bright, green buds and more than enough space to plant his 'Golding' apples. However, despite his declaration that he would have a smaller Cabinet, he has a larger one than Portia Simpson Miller had. Even with the departure of Peter Phillips, Maxine Henry-Wilson, Aloun Assamba and Roger Clarke, they, despite their ample proportions, only comprised four single persons. Bruce woke up to a nightmare on September 5. He now realises that talking the talk is not the same as walking the walk. He has to force unexpected members into the breakfront. The fit is so tight that one can't find a glass without reaching for cups. Only Clarke's shirt and Audley Shaw's financial bind of 2004 are tighter.
Be that as it may, there is no reason to doubt that this group of persons selected to run the affairs of the nation is any less competent than the outgoing executive. Bruce speaks of a nightmare due to the debt and the deaths. But while he wakes up, he could dream again that the reason for the fall of the financial sector in the 1990s pre-dates Omar Davies; and the homicides are carried out by youths who learnt their craft from Labourite and Comrade gunmen/activists, who plied their trade in the 1970s.
I saw a well-spoken brown man in my dreams, one who completed his secondary education at Jamaica College. Persons might not have noticed, but Bruce Golding seems very much to be like the 1972 Michael Manley. Perchance it is coincidental, but it was the same year that he was elected in Parliament. So, he might have taken notice. Like Manley, he pushed free education and universal health care. Furthermore, Manley's Cabinet and Senate had trade unionists. These included Carlyle Dunkley from the PNP's clone, the National Workers' Union, and Hopeton Caven, interestingly from the Trades Union Congress.
It should not be overlooked, that Manley had the capitalists in full tow. If memory serves me correctly, Eli Matalon was Minister of State in the Ministry of Education. Matalon and his clan are one of the largest wealthy families in this country and one wonders whether as minister, he had relinquished all ties to his group of family companies. Correct me if I am wrong, but I suspect that he derived income from his erstwhile relations.
Furthermore, as broken to the public on my radio show on Monday last, Manley had drafted R. Danvers Williams from the helm of the largest insurance company, Life of Jamaica (LoJ), to be Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in 1976. Later, he took over full responsibility for the portfolio from 1977 to 1979.
Williams, by his own admission, was seconded from LoJ, but received the difference between his paltry socialist government salary and his hefty remuneration that almost required a boatswain given its titanic proportions. Perhaps because of his association with the deaf, nobody spoke out or at least kept silent until I said it on Monday. It came to me in a dream.
dream appointment
The dream appointment of Donald Wehby was a short-term nightmare for Golding, because obviously, he did not think it out enough. Nonetheless, Wehby's appointment exposes some of the fundamental flaws with our system of governance. After 63 years of Universal Adult Suffrage and 45 years of Independence, why is it that we can never seem to find a complete slate of ministers from the 30-odd successful candidates?
The fact is, most persons in this country are neither Labourites nor Comrades and among those s only a few wish to be candidates.
Recognising that the pools of legislators is too narrow and shallow, it is my firm belief that the Constitution should be amended to allow for MPs to be just that. What special skills does a trade unionist or lawyer have to run a ministry? I dream of a Cabinet where persons are chosen from areas of competence like Wehby, but properly, and with bi-partisan support.
But that would be a nightmare for the favour seekers, eh?
Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
published: Sunday | September 23, 2007
Orville Taylor
I have a dream ... Let me stop, because the last public orator to say those lines was assassinated. Still, there are talks of nightmares. Indeed, it would be quite horrific to dream of sharing my bed or night space with any of the 60 Members of Parliament. Well, exclude Lisa Hanna and perhaps Shahine Robinson if she reverts to Fahkourie, her maiden name.
In any event, as usual, there is a war of words between the leaders of both political parties. Aren't you really exhausted by the bickering and the wasteful drivel when we have a country to run? Now, it is the turn of the Labourites to face the music and as with the biased hypocrites who constantly apologised for Portia's shortcomings during her first few weeks in office, we are now hearing, "Give Bruce a chance to settle." Sorry! Not in your dreams, because it is sauce for the goose and sauce for the gander.
Call a spade a spade
In fact, since Bruce is the one with the on-campus degree who went to the speech capital of high schools in the 1960s, his public utterances must be held to a higher level of scrutiny. Call a spade a spade. Most people doubt Portia's ability to make responsible speeches and being the demagogue that she is, her trademark is to speak first, then think afterwards. Therefore, he is not expected to make the same faux pas as she does. I listened to her speak and it was as if I were dreaming that she was still in charge.
Bruce dreamt that the ripe oranges having been picked, he would now see bright, green buds and more than enough space to plant his 'Golding' apples. However, despite his declaration that he would have a smaller Cabinet, he has a larger one than Portia Simpson Miller had. Even with the departure of Peter Phillips, Maxine Henry-Wilson, Aloun Assamba and Roger Clarke, they, despite their ample proportions, only comprised four single persons. Bruce woke up to a nightmare on September 5. He now realises that talking the talk is not the same as walking the walk. He has to force unexpected members into the breakfront. The fit is so tight that one can't find a glass without reaching for cups. Only Clarke's shirt and Audley Shaw's financial bind of 2004 are tighter.
Be that as it may, there is no reason to doubt that this group of persons selected to run the affairs of the nation is any less competent than the outgoing executive. Bruce speaks of a nightmare due to the debt and the deaths. But while he wakes up, he could dream again that the reason for the fall of the financial sector in the 1990s pre-dates Omar Davies; and the homicides are carried out by youths who learnt their craft from Labourite and Comrade gunmen/activists, who plied their trade in the 1970s.
I saw a well-spoken brown man in my dreams, one who completed his secondary education at Jamaica College. Persons might not have noticed, but Bruce Golding seems very much to be like the 1972 Michael Manley. Perchance it is coincidental, but it was the same year that he was elected in Parliament. So, he might have taken notice. Like Manley, he pushed free education and universal health care. Furthermore, Manley's Cabinet and Senate had trade unionists. These included Carlyle Dunkley from the PNP's clone, the National Workers' Union, and Hopeton Caven, interestingly from the Trades Union Congress.
It should not be overlooked, that Manley had the capitalists in full tow. If memory serves me correctly, Eli Matalon was Minister of State in the Ministry of Education. Matalon and his clan are one of the largest wealthy families in this country and one wonders whether as minister, he had relinquished all ties to his group of family companies. Correct me if I am wrong, but I suspect that he derived income from his erstwhile relations.
Furthermore, as broken to the public on my radio show on Monday last, Manley had drafted R. Danvers Williams from the helm of the largest insurance company, Life of Jamaica (LoJ), to be Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in 1976. Later, he took over full responsibility for the portfolio from 1977 to 1979.
Williams, by his own admission, was seconded from LoJ, but received the difference between his paltry socialist government salary and his hefty remuneration that almost required a boatswain given its titanic proportions. Perhaps because of his association with the deaf, nobody spoke out or at least kept silent until I said it on Monday. It came to me in a dream.
dream appointment
The dream appointment of Donald Wehby was a short-term nightmare for Golding, because obviously, he did not think it out enough. Nonetheless, Wehby's appointment exposes some of the fundamental flaws with our system of governance. After 63 years of Universal Adult Suffrage and 45 years of Independence, why is it that we can never seem to find a complete slate of ministers from the 30-odd successful candidates?
The fact is, most persons in this country are neither Labourites nor Comrades and among those s only a few wish to be candidates.
Recognising that the pools of legislators is too narrow and shallow, it is my firm belief that the Constitution should be amended to allow for MPs to be just that. What special skills does a trade unionist or lawyer have to run a ministry? I dream of a Cabinet where persons are chosen from areas of competence like Wehby, but properly, and with bi-partisan support.
But that would be a nightmare for the favour seekers, eh?
Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Im figet others such as Eric Bell...
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