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JLP government firing on all cylinders
Mark Wignall
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Come September 3, 2008 when that one year date becomes a matter for the historians, the PNP will either be rejoicing as its leader seems not to be doing right now or, it will be asking itself, how did the Golding-led administration bring down the murder rate to controllable limits.
"Mi nuh know weh di govament a go do bout dem set a kids who a come out a school now. From dem can talk, dem back chat dem parents. A only di police can deal wid dem," said a 32-year-old street-side, cook-shop vendor to me recently. To him, violent crime is not a PNP or JLP matter. The way he sees it, and he is supported by many at street level, the violence is a societal problem due to political neglect.
One of his friends, a truck driver (a 40-year-old rasta), agrees but has a different twist. "Di politics nuh have no love inna it, it corrupt. Everyt'ing else corrupt," he says. I point out to him that ex-prime minister Portia Simpson Miller had a lot of "love" going for her while she was in office. He smiles, drags on his spliff and says, "Fi 'ar love weh she did use is politics love. Dat a nuh love, dat a just politics."
The criticisms which the JLP mounted against the PNP while it was in power is quite likely set to turn back on the JLP government if the present rate of killings continue. Gunmen continue to kill our citizens and those gunmen who entered the police force to legitimise their need to become murdering, village tyrants are still at it.
A year from now, it seems a likelihood that the murder rate will increase over the time the PNP was in power. The JLP will have the option then of making the claim that it is only one-year-old. Will that position hold water then?
The brand new Bruce Golding-led administration has begun life in a determined rush, as if it wants to undo all of the omissions of the 18-year PNP government in one year. I fear that reducing the murder/violent crime rate may be one of those objectives which will have to await 2009.
Because of the powder keg-like relationship between the police and poor communities across Jamaica, any wrong signal from the leadership in this country poses a hazard to a softening of that relationship. I make mention of this because the new administration has been seen to be moving towards a "healing" process while the PNP leader, Portia Simpson Miller, seems to be far on the other side of this simple equation.
What is it about the "sacrifice" of serving that the PNP leader has so missed and seems to be fuming over that it has moved her to such hostility against the new JLP administration and the PNP loss? Indeed, is there something that we the people have not identified in this "serving mission" that Portia Simpson Miller would care to share with us. Certainly it cannot be just the ego overloaded on steroids.
Not since 1972 and again in 1980 have I seen a new administration so much in a rush to do what we pay government administrations to do. But even those comparisons do not do justice to the Golding-led JLP in 2007. When Michael Manley was elected in 1972 there was a sense that a messiah, a magician, had entered our political lives.
In Golding's case, the people have been saying things like, "Mi like weh 'im a gwaan wid." "Mi is a comrade, but mi nah tell nuh lie, di man steady, 'im nuh jumpy like Portia." Unlike Manley who many thought could produce rabbits from hats, Golding is seen simply as a man doing the job he has been mandated to do and, he wants us to be on board with him in that understanding.
In 1980 when Seaga won, the nation, or at least the labourites in the streets, went on a sabbatical for about a month. It was one grand party while Seaga, not a man for wasting or abusing time was seen as the man to undo the economic woes single-handedly. In Golding' s case in 2007, there is a sense that the whole JLP Cabinet has been infected with the leader's zeal.
Audley Shaw's mouth
There can be no disagreement that Jamaican nurses working in our public health system are grossly underpaid. One can therefore appreciate that Audley Shaw, while he was the JLP spokesman on finance, would have more than the urge to go around making promises to nurses that should he become finance minister, they would be looked after specially and pronto.
Now, what he wished for has happened and the nurses are looking to him, notwithstanding the meaning of the telling snicker which came from Mrs Allwood-Anderson, head of the NAJ, while she spoke on a radio programme recently. That snicker said, "Yes, a ketch yuh. I dare you to back out now."
As political promises go, had Shaw promised them paid annual vacation in the south of France, I am certain no one would believe him. So, why did they believe the part about the 100 per cent increase?
While I can appreciate that politicians like Mr Shaw was, a few years ago, that is, in Opposition and having no real power, can get away with making wild promises, I can also understand his need then to address the plight of nurses. He knows that our nurses put in long hours and are scandalously underpaid. I have observed them first-hand and believe that the least any trained nurse should be getting in Jamaica is $80,000 per month.
I can empathise with the nurses and their plight. Pretty soon they will begin to see the reality of "there is many a slip between the cup and the lip", and in this understanding, good sense will prevail. What I expect from Audley Shaw is an apology because he knows that what he promised cannot be realised in the first year or the next.
Although the accolades are slowly building for Golding, never have I seen an Opposition party so hostile to a new government. It is almost as if the PNP leader is saying, "A hope Golding fail, 'bout 'im a prime minister." One senses that her efforts are so focused on "the wrong" done to her via the JLP win that all other matters must fade into insignificance. One gets the distinct impression that the lady is vexed, fuming and, any chance she gets, she will use it to let us know how terrible she feels.
For an administration that seems to be on rapid in giving us what is our right, that is, good governance, it should continue on that path. As more of our people come on board and begin to share Golding's vision, the other voices will be drowned out.
observemark@gmail.com
Mark Wignall
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Come September 3, 2008 when that one year date becomes a matter for the historians, the PNP will either be rejoicing as its leader seems not to be doing right now or, it will be asking itself, how did the Golding-led administration bring down the murder rate to controllable limits.
"Mi nuh know weh di govament a go do bout dem set a kids who a come out a school now. From dem can talk, dem back chat dem parents. A only di police can deal wid dem," said a 32-year-old street-side, cook-shop vendor to me recently. To him, violent crime is not a PNP or JLP matter. The way he sees it, and he is supported by many at street level, the violence is a societal problem due to political neglect.
One of his friends, a truck driver (a 40-year-old rasta), agrees but has a different twist. "Di politics nuh have no love inna it, it corrupt. Everyt'ing else corrupt," he says. I point out to him that ex-prime minister Portia Simpson Miller had a lot of "love" going for her while she was in office. He smiles, drags on his spliff and says, "Fi 'ar love weh she did use is politics love. Dat a nuh love, dat a just politics."
The criticisms which the JLP mounted against the PNP while it was in power is quite likely set to turn back on the JLP government if the present rate of killings continue. Gunmen continue to kill our citizens and those gunmen who entered the police force to legitimise their need to become murdering, village tyrants are still at it.
A year from now, it seems a likelihood that the murder rate will increase over the time the PNP was in power. The JLP will have the option then of making the claim that it is only one-year-old. Will that position hold water then?
The brand new Bruce Golding-led administration has begun life in a determined rush, as if it wants to undo all of the omissions of the 18-year PNP government in one year. I fear that reducing the murder/violent crime rate may be one of those objectives which will have to await 2009.
Because of the powder keg-like relationship between the police and poor communities across Jamaica, any wrong signal from the leadership in this country poses a hazard to a softening of that relationship. I make mention of this because the new administration has been seen to be moving towards a "healing" process while the PNP leader, Portia Simpson Miller, seems to be far on the other side of this simple equation.
What is it about the "sacrifice" of serving that the PNP leader has so missed and seems to be fuming over that it has moved her to such hostility against the new JLP administration and the PNP loss? Indeed, is there something that we the people have not identified in this "serving mission" that Portia Simpson Miller would care to share with us. Certainly it cannot be just the ego overloaded on steroids.
Not since 1972 and again in 1980 have I seen a new administration so much in a rush to do what we pay government administrations to do. But even those comparisons do not do justice to the Golding-led JLP in 2007. When Michael Manley was elected in 1972 there was a sense that a messiah, a magician, had entered our political lives.
In Golding's case, the people have been saying things like, "Mi like weh 'im a gwaan wid." "Mi is a comrade, but mi nah tell nuh lie, di man steady, 'im nuh jumpy like Portia." Unlike Manley who many thought could produce rabbits from hats, Golding is seen simply as a man doing the job he has been mandated to do and, he wants us to be on board with him in that understanding.
In 1980 when Seaga won, the nation, or at least the labourites in the streets, went on a sabbatical for about a month. It was one grand party while Seaga, not a man for wasting or abusing time was seen as the man to undo the economic woes single-handedly. In Golding' s case in 2007, there is a sense that the whole JLP Cabinet has been infected with the leader's zeal.
Audley Shaw's mouth
There can be no disagreement that Jamaican nurses working in our public health system are grossly underpaid. One can therefore appreciate that Audley Shaw, while he was the JLP spokesman on finance, would have more than the urge to go around making promises to nurses that should he become finance minister, they would be looked after specially and pronto.
Now, what he wished for has happened and the nurses are looking to him, notwithstanding the meaning of the telling snicker which came from Mrs Allwood-Anderson, head of the NAJ, while she spoke on a radio programme recently. That snicker said, "Yes, a ketch yuh. I dare you to back out now."
As political promises go, had Shaw promised them paid annual vacation in the south of France, I am certain no one would believe him. So, why did they believe the part about the 100 per cent increase?
While I can appreciate that politicians like Mr Shaw was, a few years ago, that is, in Opposition and having no real power, can get away with making wild promises, I can also understand his need then to address the plight of nurses. He knows that our nurses put in long hours and are scandalously underpaid. I have observed them first-hand and believe that the least any trained nurse should be getting in Jamaica is $80,000 per month.
I can empathise with the nurses and their plight. Pretty soon they will begin to see the reality of "there is many a slip between the cup and the lip", and in this understanding, good sense will prevail. What I expect from Audley Shaw is an apology because he knows that what he promised cannot be realised in the first year or the next.
Although the accolades are slowly building for Golding, never have I seen an Opposition party so hostile to a new government. It is almost as if the PNP leader is saying, "A hope Golding fail, 'bout 'im a prime minister." One senses that her efforts are so focused on "the wrong" done to her via the JLP win that all other matters must fade into insignificance. One gets the distinct impression that the lady is vexed, fuming and, any chance she gets, she will use it to let us know how terrible she feels.
For an administration that seems to be on rapid in giving us what is our right, that is, good governance, it should continue on that path. As more of our people come on board and begin to share Golding's vision, the other voices will be drowned out.
observemark@gmail.com
Still on the Portia 'mus get licks' campaign! 
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