PRIOR to the days of modern entertainment gadgets which are now so popular with today's generation of children, one popular feature at school fairs and community-sponsored events was pinning the tail on the donkey.

Children would pay a small fee to participate in this activity, the challenge of which was to pin in the most accurate way the paper tail of a donkey on to its tailess reproduction on a chart or wall. Not only was the task made difficult and entertaining by the fact that the child was blindfolded before proceeding, but the child was also spun around in an act designed to disorient him/her after being blindfolded, and thus left to develop a sense of direction and accuracy in the process of hitting the right spot.

I was led back to this image recently as I reflected on the state of the nation at the moment and the way in which the country is positioning itself. There seems to be a sense of purposeless wandering in the political realm at this time.

It is clear that the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has lost a lot of its support and is facing a serious issue of credibility in terms of its moral leadership and its truth-telling. This has been characterised by a series of developments which each seem to weaken further the hold of the party, and hence the Government. We need not rehearse these at this time, only to note that the recent withdrawal of the passport of a Cabinet minister by the United States of America has struck a severe blow to the party, and the simultaneous revelations of the WikiLeaks material cannot be dismissed by any stretch of the imagination as a blow to the moral credibility of the party and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP).

The current unrest in the industrial relations field as represented by the public sector workers and the rejection of the Government's request for them to forgo a portion of their retroactive payment would seem to indicate a loss of some of the goodwill which had allowed for the renewal of the MOU since coming to office.

The present challenges have weakened the position of the Government. To attempt to invoke a strong hand at this time would, I believe, only aggravate the situation and possibly lead to conflict and confrontation. In the midst of this situation, the Government is fully aware that its Parliamentary majority is quite thin.

It is here that I find it interesting to engage party loyalists who claim they will never change or vote for any other party. I like to remind them that political parties are about politics and it does not matter which party receives our allegiance, they are all up to the same games. So now we find loyalists of the Jamaica Labour Party saying that they will never vote for the party again, as quoted in the media.

Disillusionment or dissatisfaction with policies or the direction of the Government have alienated them. Now they are faced with the question of alternatives. They either take a decision not to vote in the next general elections, vote for the PNP, or -- out of a sense of loyalty and duty -- return to power the party with which they have become disillusioned.

In some ways this is the plight of the whole country. Given the loss of support which the governing party is now experiencing, does this mean that the PNP is now the obvious choice and the problem is solved? Well, for the loyalists of that party the answer is obvious, but what of the others who have no such fixed loyalties?

It does not appear that the PNP is listening to the electorate of this country. It seems that the party at its conclave is only attuned to itself. So the country has been presented with a line-up of spokespersons, who are normally the ones to form

the Cabinet, if they are elected, which is — with minor tweaking — the same line-up of ministers of the previous administration.

Clyde Williams, chairman of the PNP Human Rights Commission, must have been duly ostracised and sidelined by now for having expressed the sentiments of many Jamaicans that there is

need for a shake-up in

the leadership and the presentation of a slate of candidates which is not just a return of that which was rejected in 2007.

Additionally, the country has called for a reduction in the number of ministries and portfolio divisions in Government which, although promised by successive governments, has not been honoured and seems set to be repeated in a return to governance by the PNP.

Party loyalists who are sensing the prospect of an early election or even a victory at the polls need to take on board the reflections of citizens of this country who see us going around in circles as a nation and not making much progress, as we simply vote out a party with which we are dissatisfied, only to replace them with the only alternative we have, until our patience runs out with them again.

Right now, the country not only needs credible leadership, it needs leadership that brings to the table creative ideas and strategies for the development of this nation and not just the rehash of old ideas. We have missed too many years of potential growth and development and we cannot continue to waste time with party politics and arrogance which keep us marking time.

Beyond party politics, the country will need to look at what will represent the core values to which we are committed and on which we want to build our society. We have all complained and cried our hearts out about corruption and crime and violence, and yet, when it comes to taking action in relation to these we are ready to sideline or dispose of those who would take decisive action in correcting this situation.

Mr Greg Christie, the contractor general, has been vilified by many in governance, in public service, and private citizens alike. We want the highest level of performance from that office, and yet, when attempts are made to conduct investigations into public institutions and the award of contracts, he is stonewalled by administrators.

When we believe that persons of high status should not be mentioned in the media where investigations are being undertaken, we give Mr Christie a battering for discrediting public officials and scaring off persons from offering themselves for public service, although, to my mind, he has never undertaken such investigations because persons have been going to church, involved in voluntary service or are just being good corporate citizens.

In recent days, we are coming around once more to see the value of his single-handed fight against corruption on certain fronts. We have learnt of the improper handling of the award of the LPG contract by the energy ministry, and of the fake contractor who was allegedly fronting for councillors in the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation. What is interesting in the first case is the fact that the Steering Committee set up by the prime minister and chaired by Mr Christopher Zacca came to a similar conclusion over a month before Mr Christie's revelation, and yet it was a closely guarded secret from the public.

In the case of the councillors, the PNP, with which these persons have been identified, is calling for a similar audit of the finances of all parish councils. One would have thought that with all of the publicity surrounding corruption and the dismissal of Mr Christie as overzealous, etc, such investigations would not now be necessary.

The message should be clear to all of us that corruption is as strong as ever and is well reposed within the culture of both our political parties. Those party loyalists who delight in ferreting out the corrupt ways of the other need to wake up and realise that this is a national fight for our country, and we need the likes of Mr Christie for a long time to come. As an elderly gentleman often says to me when I encounter him by way of greeting, "The half has never been told".

We must also decide as a people how we will deal with matters of governance, how the resources will be utilised, and the level of transparency that will attend the same. It cannot be that we continue to have a system of governance in which the way in which the citizens have any dialogue with those in governance is

to call demonstrations and block roads.

Last week, we saw the citizens of Treasure Beach in St Elizabeth signal their intention to stage a demonstration in relation to the non-completion of the drainage canal in their community. This project, which has remained incomplete for three years now, threatens the lives

and properties of residents with the approach of the hurricane season.

It was this stated intention to demonstrate which brought a favourable response from their member of parliament. It is unproductive, and fosters unnecessary antagonism for those in governance to continue a policy of not talking with citizens, a feature which has characterised both political parties when in government.

The matter of the Palisadoes Road is another example

of how governance is approached in the allocation of resources. While it is clear that action needs to be taken to protect the shoreline and to prevent the kind of flooding which we have witnessed on that roadway in recent years, the creation of a four-lane highway on this strip — which has never seen a traffic jam under normal circumstances — is a waste of our limited resources.

It cannot be that we are talking about the phenomenal sum it would take to rehabilitate the road network of this country and we can be involved in expensive cosmetic undertakings like the Palisadoes Road, and with the level of expenditure and cost overruns which have been revealed during the past week.

In recent weeks, the minister of education, the permanent secretary, and other officers of that ministry, have been conducting seminars with chairmen of school boards, principals, teachers, and other stakeholders in education on the Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Education in Jamaica.

It is a very comprehensive plan, and has no doubt involved the expenditure of tremendous human and material resources in the process. I am fully aware that this plan for transformation is not the same as that which existed when the last Government left office.

The question which therefore surfaces is, to what extent is this strategic plan the product of bi-partisan agreement, and does it mean that a change of Government would again see the revamping of this plan? Is it really beyond the realm of possibility for us to use our limited resources in more constructive ways, and so advance the development of our country without wasting our resources on partisan political interests?

We can continue to play these games as a nation and remain in a state of disorientation, convincing ourselves that we are moving ahead, when we are only marking time. Indeed, we may look quite entertaining and perform to the delight of onlookers, like the child with pin and tail in hand, and while being cheered on by those whose intention is also to confuse and to mislead, forget that the ultimate goal is to hit the right spot.

— Howard Gregory is the Suffragan Bishop of Montego Bay

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