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Jean Lowrie-Chin
Monday, October 01, 2007
To be sure, Prime Minister Bruce Golding should be commended for his pre- and post-election consistency. He promised a stronger voice for the Opposition and on his first day as prime minister in Jamaica's House of Parliament, he has delivered.
Jean Lowrie-Chin
How wise of him to applaud vigorously when Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller once again gave us the lines of the singing group The Police, from their Grammy-winner, I'll be watching you.
We are watching a masterful match-up, and make no mistake, Bruce is watching Portia as closely as she is watching him. It may sound like a match made in heaven, but as the two leaders and their party members emerged from Gordon House, we saw the unending purgatory of political tribalism on Duke Street.
The flawless suits and hairdos were in stark contrast to the worn-out orange and green shirts left over from the campaigns. While Bruce had signalled his desire to tango with Portia in the House, a war dance was taking place in the yard. The police (no, not the singing group) had to form human barriers to prevent the factions from clashing. These are the same police who are in short supply and should have been out patrolling our deadly highways, protecting the innocent and vigorously investigating the over 1,000 murders that have taken place in our island paradise.
Inside the House, the prime minister announced a strengthening of the position of Leader of the Opposition, to be on par with the Deputy Prime Minister, as well as a promotion for the House Speaker and the Senate President, to be on par with the Cabinet. The Table of Precedence (please note, event planners) will soon be:
(1) Governor General
(2) Prime Minister
(3) Deputy Prime Minister
Leader of the Opposition
(4) Members of the Cabinet
Speaker of the House
President of the Senate
This is Golding the pacifist at work. Even as he had to be coping with the strident sounds from his rivals, he had to be making his Cabinet list, checking it twice and eventually gave goodies to near-naughty and nice.
And so, as they arrived at Gordon House on Thursday, and found their new seats, all seemed like sweetness and light in the House. "All the world's a stage," mused Shakespeare, "and all men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances." And what an exit they had! Both Bruce and Portia appeared discombobulated as the adoring tribes pressed upon them. The dignity of the House had given way to the raucousness of the yard.
In the TV interviews, a bell-ringing woman celebrated her freedom from "18 years of bondage" while an orange-shirt man declared, "I am not distraught - we haven't lost the election." Ah, PM Bruce, you have arranged your Cabinet, tried to repair the House but the yard is in chaos.
We can only hope that the Leader of the Opposition will feel somewhat mollified by the elevation of her position and finally deliver the telegram: GOOD FIGHT (stop) WE LOST (full stop). I have to agree with former ombudsman, Howard Hamilton, that the PNP should be gracious in defeat and allow the nation's business to proceed.
At the time of going to press, the count for the two misplaced boxes for South-East St Mary, and the magisterial recount for Eastern Hanover were set to begin, as I believe they should. After those results are known, we need to stop hauling and pulling poor little Jamaica. Are we to behave like that false mother in King Solomon's court who would have preferred to see a child killed than to confess her wrongdoing? Enough already!
The eyes of our leaders must now be focused on the people they have so fired up, that they are now raging out of control. The eyes of the Jamaican people must now be trained on the people we have elected to sit in our House of Parliament. We must follow them with our cameras and microphones into the yards of their constituencies, proclaim their good deeds and uncover their dark ones.
CAFFE (Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections) should no longer confine their activities to Election Day - they should be now monitoring the behaviour of the candidates and caretakers, so that we can go to a website and find out more about these people who are now at the head of Jamaica's Table of Precedence.
Their position on this table puts them ahead of church leaders, members of the judiciary and of course the general public. Protocol demands that they must have reserved seating at functions and be acknowledged by speakers. May they be as honourable in deed as they are in title. May they honour their constituents, the tiny but precious fractions of this one Jamaica, land we love.
Monday, October 01, 2007
To be sure, Prime Minister Bruce Golding should be commended for his pre- and post-election consistency. He promised a stronger voice for the Opposition and on his first day as prime minister in Jamaica's House of Parliament, he has delivered.
Jean Lowrie-Chin How wise of him to applaud vigorously when Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller once again gave us the lines of the singing group The Police, from their Grammy-winner, I'll be watching you.
We are watching a masterful match-up, and make no mistake, Bruce is watching Portia as closely as she is watching him. It may sound like a match made in heaven, but as the two leaders and their party members emerged from Gordon House, we saw the unending purgatory of political tribalism on Duke Street.
The flawless suits and hairdos were in stark contrast to the worn-out orange and green shirts left over from the campaigns. While Bruce had signalled his desire to tango with Portia in the House, a war dance was taking place in the yard. The police (no, not the singing group) had to form human barriers to prevent the factions from clashing. These are the same police who are in short supply and should have been out patrolling our deadly highways, protecting the innocent and vigorously investigating the over 1,000 murders that have taken place in our island paradise.
Inside the House, the prime minister announced a strengthening of the position of Leader of the Opposition, to be on par with the Deputy Prime Minister, as well as a promotion for the House Speaker and the Senate President, to be on par with the Cabinet. The Table of Precedence (please note, event planners) will soon be:
(1) Governor General
(2) Prime Minister
(3) Deputy Prime Minister
Leader of the Opposition
(4) Members of the Cabinet
Speaker of the House
President of the Senate
This is Golding the pacifist at work. Even as he had to be coping with the strident sounds from his rivals, he had to be making his Cabinet list, checking it twice and eventually gave goodies to near-naughty and nice.
And so, as they arrived at Gordon House on Thursday, and found their new seats, all seemed like sweetness and light in the House. "All the world's a stage," mused Shakespeare, "and all men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances." And what an exit they had! Both Bruce and Portia appeared discombobulated as the adoring tribes pressed upon them. The dignity of the House had given way to the raucousness of the yard.
In the TV interviews, a bell-ringing woman celebrated her freedom from "18 years of bondage" while an orange-shirt man declared, "I am not distraught - we haven't lost the election." Ah, PM Bruce, you have arranged your Cabinet, tried to repair the House but the yard is in chaos.
We can only hope that the Leader of the Opposition will feel somewhat mollified by the elevation of her position and finally deliver the telegram: GOOD FIGHT (stop) WE LOST (full stop). I have to agree with former ombudsman, Howard Hamilton, that the PNP should be gracious in defeat and allow the nation's business to proceed.
At the time of going to press, the count for the two misplaced boxes for South-East St Mary, and the magisterial recount for Eastern Hanover were set to begin, as I believe they should. After those results are known, we need to stop hauling and pulling poor little Jamaica. Are we to behave like that false mother in King Solomon's court who would have preferred to see a child killed than to confess her wrongdoing? Enough already!
The eyes of our leaders must now be focused on the people they have so fired up, that they are now raging out of control. The eyes of the Jamaican people must now be trained on the people we have elected to sit in our House of Parliament. We must follow them with our cameras and microphones into the yards of their constituencies, proclaim their good deeds and uncover their dark ones.
CAFFE (Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections) should no longer confine their activities to Election Day - they should be now monitoring the behaviour of the candidates and caretakers, so that we can go to a website and find out more about these people who are now at the head of Jamaica's Table of Precedence.
Their position on this table puts them ahead of church leaders, members of the judiciary and of course the general public. Protocol demands that they must have reserved seating at functions and be acknowledged by speakers. May they be as honourable in deed as they are in title. May they honour their constituents, the tiny but precious fractions of this one Jamaica, land we love.
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